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BY EDWARD ERMATINGER. ^OtlONTOi MACLEAB, THOMAS & CO., PRINTERS, KING STREET. 1858. Ill the pub an oppo projudic of ton ' • Hudson aftcrwai across t and upv with coi "whole o If I need 1 ciples Imporia Th their ah grossly I have i I ] Charter satisfied perial C terms, of the ] Were a : surely a Is for all 1 but the Pe the pub be disp( TORO INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. I have con.sidored it lulvisublc to pliico thcso letters in a eomiccted form before the public, that Mcinbera of the Lo^islaturo, and all who feel intcrestetl, may have an opportunity of judging of the real merits of the question, divested of all the prejudices which have been raised against the Hudson's Bay Company. A residence of ten years in various parts of the Territories, after voyaging from England to Hudson's Bay, thence travelling to the lied River and upper parts of the Asscneboinc, afterwards through the Saskatchewan, to and from tho mouth of t he olumbiaEivcr, across the Rocky Mountains, and finally journeying from the Pacific to tho Atlantic, and upwards and downwards from Hudson's Bay to Canada, enables me to speak with confidence of tho difficulties, on every side, which beset the annexation of the whole of the territories to Canada. If tho rights and privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company Avere alone at stake, I need not have taken this trouble, because I am quite certain that the sacred prin- ciples of honor and justice, based on truth, Avhich must ever influence the acts of the Imperial Government, will afford them suflBcient protection. The Liverpool Financial Reform Association have been eminently lavish of their abuse of the Hudson's Bay Company, and have shown by their pamphlet how grossly intelligent men may bo imposed upon, by interested parties. This, I trust, I have fully shown in my letters on this subject. I have avoided entering on the questions of the validity of the Company's Charter, and the boundaries between Canada and the territories, because I am quite satisfied that Canada need have nothing to contend about on this score. The Im- perial Government will concede all that Canada may require, on fair and equitable tei'ms. Some of the writers, who advocate the immediate acquisition of the whole of the Hudson's Bay Territory by Canada, argue as if the Hudson's Bay C-c r-pany were a foreign nation, which had usurped a large portion of our territory. This is surely an unfair view of the question. I shall only add, that I can offer all the proofs that can reasonably be required for all that I have asserted, and have had no motive for entering on this discussion but the welfare of Canada and a sincere regard for truth. Persons who have not received copies of this publication, may obtain them at the publishers, Maclear & Co., where a limited number of copies have been left to be disposed of. Toronto, 20th May, 1858. LETTERS. No. "[.— To the Editor of the Jiamilfon Spectator, St. TrroMAs, Hth July, IS.')?. Tti my letter to the Jlritinh Colonixt, Aviileli yoii publislied with so much iilac* r'lty, when [ siiid, " I have thi'own these reiimrks hastily to;i;ether," I did not mean to convov that my opinions were hastily formed; hut this is what the Leader insin- uates. I wrote because I thought, and do think, that Mr. Chief Justice Draper took a sensible and very proper view of the interests of Canada in his cvi tho jrcviih'ncc Icvi'lliii;; I'o will not tho llud- NGEB. 1857. 3vonto, rc- pointnicnt )loymont ; territory, aIu, -would I have rnmcnt to bor under, ngaged in ve, 1 have vcrnment, inot afford with only I i Piiiall (Ic^'reo todiininiHh tho purity nuply of delicious sturgeon. Of Lake Winepeg, Mr. Franchero says, in size it is not much inferior to Lake Superior (this is a mistake ; Lake Winepeg is not near so largo, but Franchero did not see much of Lake Winepeg,) and Great Slave Lake, and has many islands in- terspersed through it, on which tho voyageurs are glad to take shelter with their craft, to escape the fury of the winds. Before leaving the shores of Lake Winepeg, we may be said to have taken a long farewell of the magnificient prairies, apparently boundless as the ocean, which no doubt in process of time will become tho abode of civilized men and women, in- stead of Indians, buffalo and deer of various kinds — but here all the difficulties of the navigation surround us. As for approaching Lake Winepeg by land, from Canada, is out of the question, and as for railroads or canals in the same direction, none but unemployed engineers and visionaries, can ever dream of seeing them. There are, however, a class of gentlemen who will be supported by the government of tho country, whether employed or not. These persons will endeavour to precipiate the Government into some ill-advised act respecting the Hudson's Bay territories, but all such persons may be supported at a much cheaper rate and at much less expense to the country, than by employing them to build castles in the air. 6 1 will now contrast the difficulties to be overcome before reac]un«T Lake Wine- peg, with the benefits to Canada which may be anticipated, after the expenditure of millions. Ascending the Winepeg river from the Lake of the same name, in the route for Lake Superior, Mr. Franchere says, this river is called also White River, (Riviere Blanche) from the white foam and froth arising from a great number of almost continuous cascades or rapids which obstruct the navigation. This day, says Mr. Franchere, we passed over 27 short portages, on the two following days 9, and on the fourth day arrived at the Lake of the Woods. On the Gth day we ar- rived at Lac la Pluie and reached the Lac la Pluic Fort on the evening of the 7tii day. After leaving Lac la Pluie the travellers crossed a small Lake and narrows where there was scarcely water enough to float their canoes. Thence they journied to the Dog Portage, which is long and mountainous. They were now travelling down stream, having passed the Mountain Portage about noon of the same day. Finally after having passed over 30 more portages they arrived at Fort William, Lake Superior, about 9 o'clock p. ra. That is 12 days actual travelling from Lake Winepeg to Lake Superior, and having to pass over more than 70 portages, lo.ig and short, in some places carrying over their canoes and generally their lading and baggage. The foregoing, I believe, is a tolerably correct statement of the difficulties of the navigation, or route between Lakes Superior and Winepeg, which will have to be removed before we can even attempt to derive any advantages from the settle- ment of the Saskatchewan or to confer any material benefit on the Red River set- tlers. Other parties have essayed to make light of the obstructions to the naviga- tion, and I should rejoice for the sake of old friends at Red River, if these obstruc- tions could be overfcome without a vast amount of labour and expense ; and then after all this, the Americans in the direction of St. Paul's and Minnesota will be ahead of us. The opponents of the Hudson's Bay Company have greatly exaggerated the benefits to be derived to Canada from the settlement and trade of the Hudson's Bay Territory ; while they have to as great an extent underrated the difficulties first to be surmounted; Mr. Gladman, it is true, and he has had long experience in that country, and is a gentleman whose word may be relied upon — says that he does not admit that these difficulties are insurmountable or the route impracticable except for north canoes. But let any person read the whole of Mr. Gladman's evi- nence attentively, and he will see that all I am contending for is admitted — i. e., the difficulties can only be surmounted by the route being rendered practicable for the transport of the products of these distant regions at an incalcuable expense ; and when all this has been accomplished, we may succeed in bringing coals to Newcastle. The Toronto Leader says, on what authority I do not know, "From the extremity of the Lake of the Woods to Rainy Lake there is an unin- terrupted navagation of 150 miles on which a steamboat may be employed ;— above the falls which interrupt the navigation, there is a further reach of 70 miles, also navigable for steamboats. Thence to Lake Superior, in a direct line the distance does not exceed 150 miles, in which there are also many unimpeded navigable lakes and streams, with only a land carriage of from 25 to 30 miles — over portages, &c." And these statistics he gives in contradiction to my statement, " that to sur- mount these difficulties the Province would have to incur a responsibility not much if anything short of the vast amount already incurred on account of the Grand Trunk Railway Company." As a question of such magnitude requires full discus- sion, I shall, with your permission, endeavour to place it in a diflerent light from that in which the Toronto press has placed it. EDW. ERMATINGER. 9 like Wino- ndituic of nc, in the lite River, number of This day, ig days 9, day wo ar- 10 7tii day. here there the Dog n stream, nallv after Superior, V^inepeg to d short, in iculties of ill have to the settle- lliver set- he naviga- se obstruc- and then ota will be xaggerated D Hudson's difficulties experience ays that he 'practicable iman's evi- tted — I. e., cticablo for pense ; and Newcastle. fj "From an unin- jd ;— above miles, also he distance gable lakes f portages, ;hat to sur- j not much the Grand full discus- light from :nger. No. 3. — To the Editor of the Spectator. St. Thomas, 22nd July, 1857. In my last letter I gave some account of the great country boi'dering on the Saskatchewan and Red River; and in quoting from Franchere's journal, have laid before your readers a faithful delineation of the beauties of those magnificent prairies through which those rivers flow. To those who are disposed to indulge in the sublime and beautiful, this groat country, no doubt, will prove highly attractive. To the Fur Trader, Avho has boon buried in snow, separated from all the luxuries and amcnitlcH of civilized society, during a long and dreary winter, the view of the Sas- katchewan is such as Mons. Franchere has pourtrayed it. The scene is indeed en- chanting, but if wo reflect a little, and contrast those boundless prairie lands with the rich and fertile country divided by the St. Lawrence and the chain of magnifi- cent lakes by which it is fed and beautified, we shall discover at once how meagre is the picture of the Saskatchewan compared with the St. Lawrence or the Columbia. The one may be compared to those meretricious objects which expose all their charms at one view ; the beauties of the other unfold themselves, the more you become ac- quainted with them. As some proof of the poverty of the prairie lands, compared with the heavy timbered lands of Canada and the Columbia, I may here introduce the view taken of the Columbian and Saskatchewan by a celebrated botanist many years ago. Mr. David Douglas, a most enthusiastic botanist, had been sent to the Columbia by the Horticultural Society of London, and wintered at Fort Vancouver 30 years ago. I travelled in company with him on more than one occasion, and never saw a person more arduous in the pursuit of his profession. Wherever the boat stopped, he sprang on shore and soon returned in extacy with the discovery of some new specimens of plants, and many of them to this day bear his name or the names ho gave them, in the scientific records of the Society. Traversing the Rocky Mountains the same indefatigable spirit characterised his labors ; but on descending the Sas- katchewan his spirit flagged. The sameness of scenery for hundreds of miles, and absence of variety in the vegetable kingdom damped his onerg'os. and he floated down the stream apparently as unconscious of the magnificent scenery which Fran- chore describes, as the boat in which he rode. Mr. Douglas afterwards visited the Sandwich Islands iu search of exotics, and was unfortunately killed by falling into a bear pit. His indifference while travelling on the Saskatchewan has strengthened my own opinion that the soil of the immense plains which border on it, is not rich or well adapted for agricultural purposes. Along the banks of the river, and in other places far apart, where there is water and clumps of trees the soil is better, and the country fit for settlement ; but it is obvious that in the plains, where the view is only bounded by the horizon, and where the traveller for many miles can neither discover wood nor water, the skill and labour of the agriculturist cannot accomplish much. It is a great mistake to be tempted by lovely appearances and pleasing scsnery, and to fancy that because land may be easily cultivated it will always prove produc- tive. In the plains of the Saskatchewan, the farmer may plough up his land and sow his seed the moment he arrives, and he may look forward to the time of harvest, but where is he to look for rail timber, or the means of preserving himself and his crops from the cruelties of roving bands of blood-thirsty Indians, who take as much pleasure in scalping a white man or woman, as they do in tomahawking one another ; and from the depredations of wild beasts, who prey upon one another. Any person who has heard the howling or yelling of a pack of wolves in the distance, or the war-hoop of a band of Assinepottucks nearer hand, can imagine the horror-stricken feelings which would overwhelm any number of settlers scattered along the banks of the Scskatchewan. The Hudson Bay Company's servants, at the two or three 10 posts, the Company holds on the Saskatchewan, have to be always on their guard from Blackfcet, Sioux, Gros, Ventres, and other tribes of Indians, who would cut any party of settlers off in detail, unless thoy were constantly on the alert, and well supplied with arms and ammunition. Although the banks of the Saskatchewan and Bed Rivers have many pleasing views, and the lands boidering on these in many places shallow rivers would in process of time afford the means of subsistence and support to millions of the poor of Europe, when fitted to load a pastoral life, and all causes of danger being removed, yet to the people of Canada they offer advantages not worth contending for. Here, in the midst of, and surrounded by millions of acres of the finest land in the world, diver- sified by magnificent lakes and watered by beautiful rivers, and capable of affording employment and support to millions upon millions of our fellow subjects, what good reason can wo have to tempt them into the arid plans of the Saskatchewan. After all that has been said, or can be said, of these boundless prairies, there is no part of them that can bear comparison, in point of magnifficence and utility combined with the country we now inhabit. We look in vain for such monarchs of the forest and such splendid varieties of tinted foliage as drop to enrich the soil of Canada. The eye is not relieved, as in Canada, by a variety of landscape, rich in soil and timber ; but, after leaving the banks of the river, on the plains of the Saskatchewan in Summer, the vieAV is confined between the p.arched ground and the hot sun ; in Winter a sheet of snow covers the face of the earth, — without the shelter of woods or fuel to burn — as to the Fur Trade, in a national point of view, it is not worth contending for. In opposition to what I have stated, the evidence of the Red River settlers may be adduced as published in their resolutions to be forwarded to Canada by Capt. Kennedy, in which they challenge the world for fertility of soil, and the ease with which it is cultivated. And adding, •' what we can say of Red River as fit for colonization, many of us from long residence there, can say also of the entire valley of the Saskatchewan, and of much of the country beyond it." This I do not intend to dispute, but I will give you an extract from the letter of a gentleman re- sident there, dated 13th of May last, and which is now in my possession. " The Canadians I see are calling out loudly for the annexation of this territory to Canada ; should it be ceded to them, I think they would be something like the man who won the elephant at the raflie, and did not know what to do with it, when he got it" — and of the majority of the settlers he says " they are fully aware that the Canadian duty on impoi ts is rather more than 4 per cent— which is all they have to pay at present, besides being entirely free from all taxation." Again this gentleman says, after describing the Winter as severe and the Spring backward, the farmers were not prepared for anything of the kind, they have expended everything in the shape of fodder long ago, and as the cattle could not procure a mouthful of food in the plains, between 400 to 500 have died from starvation, and the majority of those that escaped so far, are now dying off daily ; a great number of horses have also died in the course of the winter from some kind of disease or other ; apart from this, the heavy rains and a severe snow storm a few days ago have so soddened the fields that little or nothing has been done in the way of farming — the few farmers who have put any (Avheat) down, have lost it all with very few exceptions, by the rising of the rivers, which has flooded the lands." This, I believe, to be a faithful picture of the Red River in the mouth of May, and to some extent similar causes operated in Ca- nada ; but from its first settlement. Red River has been severely tried and aflilicted in one way or other from natural causes, and many of its best settlers have been glad to seek relief either in Canada or in the United States, from the hardships and mi- series they hau to encounter there. Of these I may mention Angus McKay, Angus Gunny, McPherson, and several other worthy and prosperous settlers, in and near Aldborough. 11 leir guard ould cut and well pleasing in process )f Europe, !d, yet to )re, in the Id, diver- affording what good After IS no part combined the forest f Canada. 1 soil and catchewan )t sun ; in ' of woods not worth )r settlers anada by 1, and the 1 River as the entire s I do not tleman re- 1. " The ) Canada ; who won got it" — Canadian to pay at man says, ners were the shape )od in the J of those have also from this, the fields who have ng of the ne of the ed in Ca- 1 afllieted been glad 1 and mi- Y, Angus and near ft But the malcontents, stimulated by Captain Kennedy and others, would attri- bute all the evils the Red River settlers have had to endure to the fur monopoly, that has been fruitful only of poverty and degradation. This is a most unfair and ungenerous statement, for many of the settlers have derived all they possess or are worth from the fur monopoly, and had it not been for the Hudson's Bay Company, the colony of Red River would not now be in existence. This lam as convinced of as that I hold a pen in my hand. Let the Company be blamed for whatever mis- deeds they may have committed, but let not Canada be deceived by the rash assertions and unfair statements of discontented iuiividuais, whose ill-directed ambition will lead them to enter into any Utopian enterprise at whatever cost to themselves or *)thors. It is now about fifty years since the Red River Colony was commenced by Lord Selkirk, under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, and during the whole of that period it has only been kept alive through the accession and means of their retired officers and servants with their families, under the protection of the Company. In the resolutions adopted at a meeting in Red River, on the 8th Juno last, and published in the Toronto Journals, there is much that is not only grossly exaggerated, but that is positively untrue. This may be also said of much of the evidence of witnesses as published in the newspapers. Speaking of the use of spi- rituous liquors for instance, one of the Red River resolutions says : " The entire valley of the Saskatchewan is so flcodedwith this fruitful source of mischief to the red man, that it is almost the exclusive commodity with which the Hudson's Bay Company procures the large stock of provisions obtained from the Saskatchewan." The testimony of any person who can deliberately make such assertions as these ought to be received with extreme caution. Justice to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to the Canadian public, requires that the falsity of such reckless assertions should be fully exposed. EDW. ERMATINGER. No. 4. — To the Editor of the Spectator. St. Thomas, 30th July, 1857. While Great Britain is putting forth alPher energies to quell the mutinous spirit which has led the Sepoys to imbrue their hands in the blood of many of our country- men in the East, some of our Canadian politicians are pursuing a course well calcu- lated to involve her in troubles of a similar nature, in the Western portion of this continent. We can all remember when we considered ourselves on the eve of a war with the United States on the Oregon question ; and most assuredly, if our Cana- dian agitators were allowed to go on sowing the seeds of dissension in the Red River Colony, the result would be dangerous to the peace of two great nations, and destructive of the lives and property of the well disposd portion of the Red River settlers. In one of the resolutions adopted at the Red River meeting, to be submitted to the Imperial and Canadian governments, it is said" the disorder predicted by Sir George Simpson and his colleagues, as likely to spring up from the opening of the (fur) trade will inevitably follow, unless, indeed, the government can have troops in the country to support a monoply." In other words, if free trade in furs is not granted to them, they will set at defiance the authority of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and, as a consequence, must act in opposition to the will of the Imperial government. The result- of such a conflict with constituted authority can readily be imagined. To maintain their rights and privileges, the Company would have to resort to rigorous measures, and Her Majesty's troops would havo to enforce sub- 12 m ji mission to the laAvs by which the Colony is governed. The roviug Americans on the frontier would mix themselves up in the dispute, and carry off the trade. The Indians, too, ever ready to encourage an illicit trade, which would raise the prices of their skins, would cheat both parties of traders, and cut off all the defenceless settlers who might lie within their reach. If it be said that free traders now traffic in the territory on the American side of the line, it must be borne in mind that the Ame- rican traders have always a nation of enterprising, energetic men at their heels, ready and never failing to inflict a fearful retribution on the savages who may com- mit murders or outrages on any of their people ; so that while the Indians on our side profess to love their great Mother the Queen, those on the American side really fear their great Uncle, Kitche-Mokoman, the Big Knife. Still the Americans (fo not always escape pillage and murder. But I have good reason to believe that the majority of the Red Kivcr settlers do not entertain the sentiments and assertions so recklessly interwoven in the resolutions to bo submitted to the Canadian and Imperial governments by the delegates entrusted with them. The most respectable portion of the settlers have spent the greater part of their lives in the service of the Hudson's Bay and North- West Companies, and know better than their traducers, that, as a general rule, their conduct to the Indians has been humane and considerate, and that the exceptional cases were when the cupidity of free traders tempted the natives to defraud and cheat the Company. It has always been an object with the Company to restrict the sale of ardent spirits ; and without giving them credit for more than they deserve, I may say that the safety of their people and their own interests, require them to do so. As for spirituous liquors being such a fruitful source of mischief to the red man, as the Red River resolutionists state, this is a gratuitous assertion, like many others in their resolutions, not susceptible of proof. That Indians do sometimes indulge in the use of spirituous liquors, supplied by the Compay as well as others, I do not deny ; but not to such an extent as to afflict them with any of the evils which so lamentably degrade and impoverish their white brethren in civi- lized society. The fact is, the Indians generally do not visit the Company's esta- blishments more than three or four times a year, and have only the opportunity of indulging for a few days, so that our sympathy for the Red man, in this respect, is not at all required. In most parts of the Huson's Bay Territories the natives would have to be accustomed to the use of spirituous liquors, before the virtue of tempe- rance can be inculcated. But the liquor, fox skin, and cranberry stories interwoven . with the chain of evidence against the Hudson's Bay Company by designing men, should have little weight with the people of Canada, for in nine cases out of ten it will be found, on proper investigation, that the parties for whom it is attempted to excite our sympathies were acting dishonourably, if not dishonestly, towards the Hudson's Bay Company. But in discussing the question of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories, I would respectfully recommend the leaders of the Toronto press not to mix it up with our Canadian politics. Our Canadian Ministry, according to their showing, are already sunk to the chin in political corruption, and have more sins laid at their door than they can either answer or compound for. Then, why worry and liarrass them to desperation at the instigation of a few disappointed men, who, having failed to gain a living or to raise themselves to distinction by more honourable means, have raised a hue and cry against the Hudson's Bay Company, very much in the spirit of the wolves, to whom I have already made allusion. These hungry animals, singly, are mere yelping curs, but in packs they dog the noblest animals in the prairies, assailing them by snapping and biting their limbs, and other parts of the body, till they become too much disabled to make further resistance, and fall prostrate before their voracious enemies — the opponents of the Ministry act, as if 13 cricans on ■iide. The 10 prices of C.S3 settlers flic in tho the Amc- heir lieels, may cora- uis on our sitlc rcaljv icricans (fo cr settlors vcn in the ts by the tilers have md North- rule, their exceptional cfraud and to restrict than they ts, require mischief to assertion, Indians do 3ny as well 'itli any of en in civi- any's esta- )rtunity of respect, is Lives would of tempc- interwoven . ;ning men, t of ten it tempted to Dwards the rritories, I c it up with lowing, are lid at their md liarrass 10, having honourable very much )se hungry ?st animals icr parts of e, and fall f act, as if like Achilles, they were vulner..1»lc only in the heel, and therefore they attack them on this outside, Hudson's Bay Territory question. Instead of treating this ques- tion, which has been magnified into one of such vast importance by the leaders of the Press in Toronto, in a calm dispassionate manner, they have attempted to influence the public mind by invoking it in tirades of abuse and vilification, alike regardless of decency and truth. Having only continually the victim before their eyes whom they have doomed to destruction, no matter what public morality requires right or wrong, they do not stop to enquire. Something wrong, they say, has been done by the Ministry, or something right has not been done, and they undertake to decide the (question before they know right or wrong about it ; and condemn tho government — like the connoisseur in the lecture on Heads, did the painter — " the dog has spoiled a fine piece of canvas, he's worse than a Harp alley sign post dauber ; there's no keeping, no perspective, no foreground ; why there now tho fellow has attempted to paint a fly on that rose-bud ; why it's no more like a fly, than I am like a-a-; " but as the connoisseur approached his finger to the picture, the fly flew away. So will the case of the man Coutts, whom the Toronto press has twice murdered somewhere between the Sault St. Mary's and Hudson's Bay, turn out on investigation. A question involving such important considerations ought not to bo smeared with the venom of party spirit or political animosity. The first consideration is, Avhether it is advisible for Canada to assume the government of the vast territories now occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company ; and the second is, how we would compensate that Company for the sacrifice of all their interests in tho Fur Trade. This must be done by either England or Canada, notwithstanding the profligacy of Charles the Second. Canada is young, healthy and waxing strong, and particu- larly chivalrous, when seated in tho editorial chair, but neither her wealth nor her strength will be adequate to the task of turning out the Hudson's Bay Campany Avithout full compensation. Whether the Charter of the Company bo valid or not, under it they have held possession for two centuries, and possession under these circumstances, is certfinly nine points of the law. Mr. EUice in his evidence before tho committee of the House of Commons in England, intimated the ur.so the Company would be obliged to resort to, if deprived of their rights and privileges ; and certainly they will be justified in using all the means within their power to protect their interest against the aggressions of free traders in furs. But the con- sideration is, will Canada be benefited by the acquisition of the vast territories in dispute, when the leaders of the Toronto press have kicked out the Hudson's Bay Company, or had them all hung for murder. In Lake Superior, the mines have presented new elements of trade and com- merce which may benefit Canada, but beyond these nothing has been discovered in the Hudson's Bay territories, which Canada has not the means of providing to much more advantage. It is a question whether fall wheat can be raised in these territo- ries. Indeed the climate generally being as severe as in Lower Canada, would lead us to consider that fall wheat would not thrive there. Now this is unquestion- ably the great staple feeder of Western commerce in Canada. In nothing do these vast territories, as far as is known, excel or even equal Canada. They present nothing that we do not possess, except fur bearing animals and the objects of the chase, and these are thinned out as civilization advances. Every kind of grain and fruit we can produce in a superior degree. Apples, which will be dropping all round us in a month or two, have not yet been produced at Red River. Then, I would ask, and press upon the consideration of the people of Canada, what is there to tempt them to open up a communication of more than a thousand miles at a vast expense, to annex a colony not more populous than one of our own townships, and where every article of produce that can bo raised may be produced or found at our 14 own andon tho or — free to itants have ro of hemp cd to other tho case of , venture of r, and suc- r quantity, mbt by Mr. hich ho was How, and it . He sub- ir ago mur- Association iron. restrictions vhat system Imitted that ise up rivals aercial body 3 it ? Most rstand what IS the Com- 5 carried on '. It is not >mpany and ually dimin- lore for the the second be answered, isand inhab- }s, with tho ;hrce or four onization on I tho part of Lord Selkirk has not been attended with Bufficient success to encourage tho Hudson's Bay Company in proceeding further, not from mismanagement on their part, but from natural causes. Bond, in his work on the resources of Minne- sota, who visited tho Selkirk settlement in 18/)!, and who was enraptured with all he saw at tho Colony, tells us that no farming whatever was done for three years past, tho waters" having risen to tho height of 81 and 83 feet above low water mark, Hooding all tho country, inundating tho houses at this place (Pembina), to tho depth of tAVo and three feet. The rivers he describes as being very muddy and deep, and tho waters very disagreeable until you get accustomed to then. To vary the scene, when tho lands are not flooded, they are visited by armies of a species of locusts, Avhich frc(|uontly destroy tho crops. Hero I must break off*, trusting that I shall be able to show ns I proceed, that the language I have used in tho fore part of this letter is not too strong to apply to tho venomous publication of tho Liverpool Financial Reform Association. EDWD. ERMATINGER. No. G. — To the Editor of the Spectator. St. Thomas, August 24, 1857. Dear Sir, — The Liverpool Financial Reform Association is obliged reluctantly to admit that the Hudson's Bay Company did found a colony at Red River, but with the disingenuousness characteristic of dishonest minds, they detract from this unwilling testimony in favor of tho Company, adding — " But the main purpose of the settlement was to place a barrier in the way of the operations of the North West Company, not colonization." It so happened, however, that after tho Coalition of the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies, the former not only maintained the colony, but in 1821 brought out a considerable number of Swiss settlers of a res- pectable class, to augment its population, and has since in various ways endeavoured to promote tho prosperity of tho settlement. But the natural causes, to which I have before adverted, and its distance from any market has and must retard its ad- vancement. It is needless to expose all the slanders of this Association, else I might shew that the Company has not acted unreasonably with the settlers, as to the price of freight and otherwise, but it cannot be charged against the Company as a crime, that they have prevented them from trading with the Indians for furs. The Company was constituted a monopoly mainly for the purpose of trading in furs, and it would be strange indeed if they allowed private individuals to interfere with that trade. " The settlement has been in existence nearly half a century. During this period mere villages — nay the location of single squatters — in the United States have sprung iip into important cities and districts ; but the R. R. settlement has lingered and pined under an incubus opposed to all progress, numbering at this day a population of from five to seven thousand souls only." I make this quotation from the pamphlet to shew how the Association has made use of distorted facts, and fal- lacious reasoning, to prejudice the public mind against the Hudson's Bay Company. It is true important cities and districts have sprung up in the United States within the last half century, but where ! how near to the Hudson's Bay territories ? The nearest approach of anything like a village is 500 miles from Pembina, in Minnesota, a tract of country quite as eligible and more accessible than either the Red River 18 settlement or the Siiskatcliewan and tliroiiglt wliicli I contend all tlie eoninierco of these distant regions must ultimately pass. Under these circumstances what could the Hudson's Bay Company have done more for colonization ? At this time it is highly important for the people of Camida to estimate tho real value of tho vast territories ahout to be offered to them for colonization ; be- cause, if these vast regions arc as valuable and desirable as some people imagine, then tho young settler in Canada nniy suspend his axe, and with all the able bodied emigrants who may arrive on our shores make tracks for tho Western prairies. — There they will require no axes to chop down the forests — Nature has cleared tlio land already for them. And the I'oronto gentlemen may j)repare to set out their tubs to catch some of the vast trade, which is to swell the tide of commerce through Canada, from Chicago, and the lied Uiver settlement. But tho people had better first in«iuire, what's to pay. So far the JIuihon's liny Compani/v. Magna Cliarta and the British people has not appeared to bo a very grave matter for the display of the Liverpool Finan- cial Reform Association's malevolence, but in what follows under theheail of *' Wliat the Company has done for the United States and Russia," their malignity, blinded by gross ignorance of the subject on which they write, has led thorn to expose them- Bclves to the severest castigation wliich can bo inflicted on men having any regard for honor and truth. " Rut whilst discouraging and repressing their fellow subjects in every possible way, tho conduct of tho Company and its officers towards Americans has been very different. By its connivance, if not by its influence and positive agency American citizens olitaincd that footing in Oregon, which consti- tuted the claim of the United States to a most valuable territory, which unques- tionably belonged to England — if there w as one jot of validity in tho Company's charter." The Liverpool Association ought to have known that the Company's Charter does not extend to Oregon, and so far from desiring to surrender their establishments south of the line 4!) to tho Americans, in 1828, when the United States rejected tho offer of the British Government which yielded up these establishments, the Company had prepared to remove them within the line. Subsequently tho American Government accepted the existing treaty which stipulated that they should compensate the Company for such of their posts as they may take possession of by virtue of tho Oregon treaty. There is no truth whatever in the assumption that tho Company desired to get rid of these posts ; but of course, if they were deprived of them, they desired compensation. It is well known that the United States never relinquished their claim to the Oregon territory, founded on the discoveries of Captain Gray in tho Columbia, of Lewis and Clarke's overland journey to Columbia, and the establisment of Astoria by the enterprise of John Jacob Astor. The question was only held in abeyance by the ten years treaties, till finally settled by the existing treaty. As to Russia being under obligations to the Company for its indifference to British interests — this is one of those gratuitous assertions with which the pamphlet is replete — the Company had no right or power to interfere with their settlements. They established a trade with them which was all they could do. Whale fishing was no part of the Company's business, and how can they be charged with neglecting the whale fisheries near Rehring's Straits is a mystery. The Liverpool Association were certainly at sea without a compass when they trumped up such ridiculous charges against the Hudson's Bay Company. They accuse the Company with subordinating all other considerations to that of '''■some trade in fur,'' and they say "with this sole view it has endeavored, so far as in it lay, to retain nearly half the continent of America in a state of wild barren waste, keeping out men in order that beasts might breed and multiply. As regards subjects of the British Crown, this execrable policy has to a great extent ■i 19 iimorco of iliut could tiiiiato the ition ; be- imagine, ble bodied H'uirii's. — Icarcd tlio set out coininerco people liad ish people )()] Finan- f " Wbat ty, blinded pose them- luy re^rard m subjects [•8 towards luenco and licli consti- cli unqucs- Company's Company's indcr their litcd States blislnncnts, uently tho they should ssion of by on that tho deprived of laim to the )luinbia, of of Astoria beyance by ifference to pamphlet is cttlements. ale fishing nejxlectins Association ridiculous 0728 to that javored, so ite of wild tiply. As cat extent Buoceeded, — not as re;;ards American citizens." A little eiwjuiry into t\\\nercorabU oUcy will hIicw us whether the Liverpool Association are justified in usin^ such liii 1 larsh Ian j^ua^^e towards the Hudson's Jlay Company. AVe have already been told by them that the Red River settlement, altiioii;^di in existence more than half a cen- tury has lingered and pined, and does not yet contain more than T) to 7000 souls; and we know that neither the United States, nor Canada till very recently, have attempted to help tho He tho tatcnient same deadly UpaHy the fur trade monopoly, has re|)ri ssed and choked everything opposed to its niterest, the Americans have not failed to seize the rich booty pre- pared for them by the anti-national poVuiy of the Hudson's Ray Companyj Why, we may ask, has not the same cause produced the same effect in Red River as in Orei^on ':' Simply because the two countries are veiy dilferent in point of climate and accessibility. The same elements of j^reatness do iH»t exist in both countries. The Hudson's Ray Company has acted in ijoth cases preeiselv as any other com- mercial body would have acted under similar circumstances ; but the Columbia or Oregon territory presented a better field for agricultural and commercial pursuits than Red River, and the Company improved it. Dr. McLoughlin, whose name has been associated with savages and murderers in the disgraceful publication of the Liverpool Association, is dc8erve«lly esteemed tho father of Oregon City. He was the partner in charge of the whole Columbia department, to which is attached that of New Caledonia and Fraser's River, for more than a quarter of a century. A more indefatigable and enterprising man it would have been difficult to find. With an energetic and indomitable spirit, his capacious mind conceived and ])ushed forward every kind of improvement for tho advancement of commerce and the benefit of civilization. "With only seven head of horned cattle, and others which he imported from California, by good management and perseverance he stocked the whole of the Oregon territory until they had in- creased to thousands. He built saw mills, and cultivated an extensive farm on the beautiful prairie of Fort Vancouver. Subse(|nontly lu; laid tho foundation of Oregon City, where he built a splendid grist mill. The machinery for this mill ho imported from Scotland, and from the same country a good practical miller, — which does not look much like Americanism. By every means in his power he promoted trade and commerce with other countries. To Sitka, the principal Russian establishment, tho company exported produce — chiefly wheat, to the Sandwich Islands lumber and salmon, and to California hides and tallow. In short, under Dr. McLoughlin's management, everything was done to develope tho resources of the country ; the trade was not restricted to " some trade in fur," as the Liverpool Association mean- ly assert. It is true, two military officers, Warr and Vevaseur, who visited Oregon, on the part of the British Government, reported that the Dr. favored the Americans, which probably gave rise to the slander of the Association ; but the fact is, the Dr.'s mind is of that liberal cast, that he favored everybody who could be useful to the coun- try without paying too much heed to supercilious gentlemen, who may fancy that the fate of the British Empire depended on the carrying out of their views. It would be unreasonabie to expect that the Hudson's Bay Company could colonise the Oregon territory by transporting British subjects through a navigation nearly circling the globe. They colonised it with retired servants — freemen, — and such others as could find their way there, without reference to their place of nativity, politics, or creed. I have dwelt at the Oregon territory, and the Company's rule there, to show that the execrable policy which the Liverpool Association renders treason, has been the same East and West of the Rocky Mountains, at Red River and at Oregon ;yet the former country is fast peopling with active American citizens ; while the latter still lingers and pines under the miasma of stagnation. The cause is that Red 20 S !i 1..- :^ River, by noturo, in in u jiiviit iiH'iisiiro sliutup in tliciiiidtllc of tlio continent witliout marketH ; while the Coliinibiii, ii niii^iniJleient streiini, little inCeiior to the niijijhty St. Lawrence, running through tlie whoh; (jf the Oregon territor}-, ufT'Ttls I'licilities for commerce with every |)art of the worhl. The Liverpool F»n;ineiul lli-forui Association in the reniiiimler of their puhlicu- tion which I have to notice, have proved theuiselveH master.s in the trade of hhmder, whatever may be their iiuaiifications a» financiers. ' EDW. KUMATINGEIl. No. l.— To the Edilor of the Hpedator. •iOih Au;i, ISST. Sr. TiioMAH, Since the date of my hi.st letter, I have read the proceedingw of a large njeet- ing held in Toronto, at whicii woro a.srtemhled the enemies of the IIudson'H Buy Company, the friends of progress, the ojiponents of the present Canadian Ministry and the assailants of Mr. Draper. The proceedings were just such as might have been anticipated from an assemblage generally ill-informed on the subject which they met to discuss. I have too good an oj)inion of the intelligence and good sense of the citizens of Toronto, to suppose for a moment that the majority of them con- cur in those proceedings. To use a simile, the meeting showed merely the surface water, the clear cool springs are deeper seated. The province is interestecl in hear- ing both sides of the question. With this view I continue to expose tlie fallacies of the Liverpool Financial lleform Association's Pamphlet. Under the licading — "How the Company has sought to deter settlers," it is stated "It has ever been, and still is the cue of the Company to represent its dominions as unfit for the habi- tation of civilized men." This is not true. To support their assertion, they adduce the discropcncy between Sir Geo. Simpson's oral testimony, and the glowing de- scription ho gave of a portion of the vast territory he traversed many years ago, in a book which he published at the time. Sir George may have availed himself of a traveller's license, for aught I know ; but that ho has ever asserted that the Red River district is unfit for the dwelling of man, or agricultural occupation, is too glaring a falsehood to deserve further notice. What I have already written about the Oregon territory corrroborates the statement of Sir J. IL l*ellv in his letter to Lord Glenelg, wherein he says of the country on the northern banlcs of the Colum- bia River : "In the neighborhood they have large pasture and grain farms, &c., these have been gradually established, and it is the intention of the Company still further, not only to augment and increase them, to establish an export trade in wool, tallow, hides, and other agricultural produce, but to encourage the settlement of their retired servants, and other emigrants, under their protection." Thus wo have seen the Company actually did as nmch as they could. But wo now come to graver matters — "What has the Company done for the Indians?" If wo take the Liverpool Financial Reform Association's word for it, — they have taught them cannibalism, have deprived them of the means of subsistence, and have paid missionaries to confirm them in heathenism. Such charges are too monstrous to gain credence ; but why are they made by the Liverpool Association ? They do not say that the Company practised cannibalism ; but they say it was un- known among them (the Indians) until they made the white man's acquaintance ! Need I say more to prove the recklessness of their assertions ? But the Associa- tion, horrified at the picture of their own imagination, pause to apostrophise. " This state of things in a country possessed and ruled by people who pretend to bo Christians, seems too horrible for belief, but the fact is stated on uuquestionablo authority." So to strengthen their faith they bring forward the evidence of Dr. the of d tedt plac oniz migl mcr to S( mis£ the goii seeE 21 tlic Hurfuco tcil in licar- ' fallacios of e licading — IS ever been, for the habi- tbcy atlduco glowing ile- jrears ago, in liiuisolf of a tbut tho lied lation, is too vrittcn about his letter to »f the Colura- 1 farms, &c., Jompany still port trade in le settlement ." Thus wo now come to ord for it, — f subsistence, arges are too Association ? ay it was un- cquaintance ! , the Associa- apostrophise. pretend to bo iiquestionablo idenco of Dr. ■■.4 King, which, lik<» tho testimony of the Rev. Mr. Heaver and othern, in ujnre than (piistionablo. Dr, King ^*ay,^ "when they (tho Indiana) bee ' e advaticed in lif»», and no longer aide to haunt, (hey are refused a supply of uTnuiunition, which haft become essential to their very existence, and they die eonse(|nently from ab-olute starvation — they have lieconu; cannibals by neec.xsity ; atid scarcely a monlh pir.JSuH but Honu» hiirrible tale of cannibalism is broii;,'! t to the dilTerent ei^tablishnu'nl.^."— The testimony of such witnesses oidy weakens thct caiise it is bnmgbt foiv.iird to support, for it carries its own refutation. AVIiat woubl \h; the t»se of iiinmiiiiili<»n to an Indian, no lovi/ft able to huntl The Indians tl)emselvt'«< d»" sometimes abandon their old and infirm, and of this wo have an 'nstanco lerorded lu AVnshinglon Irv- injr's interesting and admirably written worl; "Astoiiij," Mr. U. Stuait nnd a small party wore travelling somewhero between Oi'iron and the Vi^'■<(turi, iind had very opportunely fallen in with a band of bulbiloes to rrlieve their wants, vvbrn they came to a place where "the (Country seemed deserted. The only human beiiij^ lliey met with were three Pawnee srpiaws, in a hut in the midst of a descrteil enmp. Their peopb; had all gone south in pursuit of tho bulTalo, ami had loft these jjoor women behind, being too sick and infirm to travel." Irving continues, — "It in a common practi(!e with tho Pawnees, and probably with other roving tribes, when departing on a distant expeilition, which will not admit of incumbrance or deliiy, tO leave their aged and infirm with a supply of provisions sufiicient for temporary siib- sistence. When this is exhausted they must perish, though sometimes their sufl'er- ings arc abridged by hostile prowlers who may visit the deserted camp. The poor squaws iti (piestion expected some such fate at the hands of the white strangers, and though the latter accosted them in the kindest nninner, and made them ])rtsenis of drietl buffalo meat, it was impossible to soothe their alarm, or get any infornui- tion fron them." Such is tho manner in which Indians sometimes deal with their own kindred. During my residence of ten years, I do not remember to have he ird of a case of cannibalism occurring cither among whites or Indians, and the only instance in which a suspicion of tho kind was entertained, was of some of Captain Franklin's party after tho return of tho first overland expedition. This arose from the mys- terious manner in which Lieut. Hood had disappeared. But to form a just opinion of Dr. King's evidence, it is necessary to understand that he quarrelled with the Hudson's Bay Company, and I believe the Government too, because they would not employ him to head an expedition to discover the North- west passage, lie had accompained Captain Back, I think it was, and on his return volunteered to do what others had failed to accomplish ; but neither tho Government nor the Company would gratify him, and hence he set to work to vilify and slander them. The association must bo badly off for materials when they make use of such infamous falsehoods as Dr. King has told in tho extract given. But tho disingcuousnoss of the Association's publication is only exceeded by the amount of untruths it contains. The Company are blamed first for total neglect of duty, and when they attempt to do it, their motives arc impugned. It is admit- ted that Lord Selkirk colonized Red River, but then it is added, they only did it to place a barrier in the way of the operations of the North AVest Company, not col- onization. So they colonised the Oregon Territory, but then they did it that they might set tho country at a better price to the Americans. They opened up a com- merce with the Russians, but this was only to shoAV the Avay through Nootka Sound to seize the trade of tho South Pacific. They contributed towards the support of missions among the Indians, but we aio gravely told the object was to render them, the Missionaries, more subservient, to close their eyes on much that they see going on about them — that is, these reverend men, it is to bo presumed, not having seen or heard all tho atrocities and horrid tales fabricated by Dr. King and others, 22 had not the will or capacity to invent them. It is thus cviilent that whatever the Hudson's Bay Company might have undertaken or done, either in the lawful pursuit of their trade, for colonization, or for the conversion and civilization of the natives, they must have failed to satisfy the Liverpool Financial Reform Association. The assertion that the Hudson's Bay Company expends nothing in the missions, is contradicted in the same paragraph, which says " But it subsidizes missionaries with sums of from ^50 to XlOO a year, in addition to what they receive from the Associations to which they belong." Then follows the slander which I have quoted above. It is also stated that the Church Missionary Society has expended over ^50,000, to Avhich the Company did not contribute one farthing ; but the Association omit to state that one of the ratcatchers, James Leith, Esq., dyin^f, left £10,000 for the maintenance of the church at Cumberland House. But it would be an useless employment of time to attempt to refute all the slanders of the Liverpool Financial Reform Association, or to convince them of their errors, while they so shamefully violate the first principles of morality— " How the Company cheats the natives." To substantiate this charge, we have the evidence ai2;ain of the veracious Dr. King, and two of those Rev. Missionary gentlemen, whom it is said the Com- pany only subsidizes to render them more subservient. Of the Rev. C. G. Nicola I know nothing, only that he has an eye to profit, for he says " a four-penny comb will barter for a bear's skin worth £2." He does not tell us what it costs the Company to maintain a post and govern a tract of country, infested with predatory tribes of Indians, from 4 to 500 miles square, to supply these compara- tively Avorthless articles. However, it is admitted that the Company's trade is very profitable. The Rev. Mr. Beaver's evidence I mean particularly to refer to, and to shew how even a clergyman of the Church of England '^an degrade himself, when beyond the precints of the sacred edifice, and unprotected by the sancity of the pulpit. This reverend blasphemer has the audacity to declare, " God knows that I speak the conviction of my mind, and may He forgive me if I speak unadvisedly, when I state my belief, that the life of an Indian was never yet by a trapper put in competition with a beaver skin." Comment on such villanous evidence as this is superfluous, yet such is the testimony the Liverpool Association relies upon, and which the Toronto press has passed current through the Province, to blacken the character of the Hudson's Bay Company. This is one of the reverend men, whom the Company unfortunately sent to the Columbia to spread the light of the Gospel, who was only a bill of expense to them, and who proved that his affections were more set on things beneath than on those above. The Company were under the disagreeable necessity of taking him back at cost and charges, and so improper was his conduct on his way home, as I am informed at the Sandwich Islands, that Captain Humphrey refused to carry him further unless he retracted the offensive ex- pressions he had made use of towards Dr. McLaughlin. But there were two Beavers — male and female — Avell matched, the latter a lady of Amazonian spirit, who hero- ically sustained her reverend husband when his ill behavior brought him into angry conflict with the chief oflBcer of the Company. Some anecdotes of this valorous lady's ebullitions of temper Avould be very amusing were they not subjects of too grave a nature ; regard, too, for the general amiability of her sex forbids unnecessary exposure. Nevertheless, those who fancy a lady's influence, for good or evil, in missionary labours is not very great, are very much mistaken. It must be evident that the Company could not maintain Ministers and Doctors at all their establishments hundreds of miles apart, where the average number of white people were not more than ten or a dozen. As to preaching to Indians before they are civilized and taught to labour, is throwing away both money and time. On this head we may read a valuable lesson from the state of affairs in India. EDW. ERMATINGER. tern p Beavc instea V wo mi "j anoth^ k of: ^ it Indiai party r as hatcver the vful pursuit tlic natives, tion. lie missions, nisaionaries vo from the lavc quoted )cn(lcd over Association £10,000 for )c an useless ol Financial 3 shamefully he natives." Gracious Dr. id the Com- C. G. Nicola t fom*-penny us what it infested with ese compara- trade is very 'er to, and to limself, when mcity of the knows that I unadvisedly, 1 trapper put idence as this les upon. and ;, to blacken cverend men, e light of the ; his affections y were under d so improper L Islands, that c offensive ex- •e two Beavers irit, who hero- im into angry ■ this valorous mbjects of too lIs unnecessary ood or evil, in rs and Doctors age number of Indians before and time. On ndia. TINGER. No. 8. — To the Editor of the Spectator. St. Thomas, 5th September, IS.jJ. Two questions present themselves while discussing the conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company, and enquiring into the aspersions of their defamers, the Liverpool Financial Reform Association, and they are these : — Will Canada consent to assume the responsibility of governing the whole of the vast Territories, now occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company ? I believe she will not, when the question is fully under- stood. Next, will she entertain the proposition of the British Government, and be content with as much of these territories as it may bo for her interests to acquire, acquiescing at the same time in an arrangement, which will allow the Hudson's Bay Company to hold for a number of years as much of the unsettled territories as may bo required for their trade ? Before deciding on this latter question, it is proper to enquir whether the character and conduct of the Company have been such as to entiti -. Jiom to this privilege ; leaving out of view the question of right ; for I will add, if the charges preferred against them were true, they ought to be ejected from every part of the territories. But I have undertaken to shew that these charges are not true. Pursuing their catalogue of diabolical charges against the Company, the Liver- pool Financial Reform Association proceed. " Here is a specimen of atrocity not exceeded in the annals of the most savage buccaneers — Spanish or English : " — " In that winter (183(3) a party of men, led by two clerks, was sent to look for some horses, that were grazing at a considerable distance from the post. As they approached the spot they perceived a band of Assineboine Indians, eight in number (if I remember rightly), on an adjacent hill, who immediately joined them, and delivering up their ai*ms, encamped with them for the night. Next morning a court-martial was held by the two clerks, and some of the men, to determine the punishment due to the Indians for having been found near the Company's horses, with the supposed intention of carrying them off. What was the decision of the mock court-mo: tial ? I shudder to relate that the whole band after having given up their arms and partaken of their hospitality were condemned to death, and the sentence carried into execution on the spot ; all were butchered in cold blood." * The author of this horrid tale (Mr. McLean) has resided for some years, I believe, in Guelph, and is known in Hamilton, I have no doubt. I have met him in Canada, and always considered him a respectable man, incapable of imposing on the credulity of the public with a story so monstrous ; but until I see from his own hand more particulars — the names of the butchers employed in this cruel and bloody transaction — I shall consider it one of those cases where distorted facts have been employed to traduce the character of the Hudson's Bay Company.f The Assineboine Indians, like some other predatory tribes of the North Wes- tern prairies, are well known to be great horse thieves, of whom, if the Rev. Mr. Beaver had said, the life of a trapper was never yet put in competition with a horse, " instead of the life of an Indian was never yet put in competition with a heaver skin^ wo might have believed him to have spoken conscientiously. But we come now to another of these foul charges of crime, the actors in which I have some knoAvledge of: " Conformably with a rule by which nominal christians reduced themselves to the level of savages, in August, 1840, near the mouth of the Columbia River, one Indian was hung, se . eral others were shot, and their village was set on fire by a party in the employ of the Company, under the command of Chief Factor Mclinu- * Tliis horrid tale appears to have orijjinated in the gasconade of gome men who had been sent in pursuit of horse theives. There is not particle of truth in the story. f Mr. McLean has not thought fit to confirm the above statement, in fact he cannot. i 24 iLi ghlin, Avlio led tlicm from Fort Vancouver, there to revenge the death of a man who had lost his life in an affray with the Indians." The affray, as it is called, was that a man named McKay, employed by the Company to cure salmon at a small port at the mouth of the Columbia was barbarously murdered for the sake of pillage, by the Indian who was hung for the offence, having been first delivered up to justice by the other Indians of the tribe. Ills execution was concurred in as an act of retributive justice by the Missionaries and other gentlemen at the establishment. I had the honour of serving immediately under the orders of Chief Factor McLaughlin for 3 years, more than 30 years ago, and had intimate intercourse with him during that period. I know him to be incapable of any such deliberate act of cruelty. lie was, indeed, a noble specimen of human nature. Dr. McLaughlin is a native of Quebec, I believe, Irish by descent on the father's side, and French on the mother's. Ills name will stand conspicuous in the annals of Oregon, when those of his defamers are mingled with the records of infamy. But it will be said by these wretched philanthropists, who pretend to be better Christians than better men, the Indian should have been sent doAvn to Canada to have been legally tried and convicted ! Miserable jurists ! Why did you not convict arid execute the murderers of Corrigan ? In the midst of civilized society, surround- ed with all the appliances and paraphernalia of Courts of Justice, puling piety, and cheap patriotism can afford to be pitiful ; but place such sorry philanthropists in the midst of danger, amongst hordes of lawless savages, to act on the immutable laws of God, their craven hearts would sink within them, and they would be able to fulfil no law human or divine. " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," is the law of God proclaimed upon the mountains of Ararat, antecedent to all human laws, and which law has never been abrogated or disanulled, except by those deluded philanthropists who pretend to be more merciful than their Creator ! The Indian is no more absolved from the operation of this divine law than the white man, and when he violates it he shall be made to feel the consequence of his wicked transgression. Any body of men placed beyond the reach of civilization in the midst of lawless savages, are justified in protecting themselves from the murderous dispositions of barbarians, and in inflicting that punishment which their crime deserves. Chief Factor McLaughlin and the missionaries who assisted him in execut- ing the murderer of McKay, are justified in the sight of God, as much as any body of Her Majesty's troopa who may inflict deserved punishment on the mutineers of Delhi. When I was at Fort Vancouvei', in the " Columbia," one of my messmates, McKenzlc, a fellow clerk, and four men, while on a trip were stealthily dogged by some of those merciless barbarians, for whom the mercenary members of the Liver- pool Financial Reform Association have so much sympathy and were literally butch- ered in the dead of night while fast asleep ; and no one left to tell the horrid tale, but a miserable squaw, who escaped their murderous brutality. Should such fiends as these be allowed to revel in their feasts of blood, until the tardy arm of justice is stretched across the Atlantic over the Continent of America to the shores of the Pacific, with solemn mockery to defeat the end of that sacred law, to which all human laws should be subservient ? But it would be too much to expect such a body as the Liverpool Financial Reform Association, to distinguish between the exercise of natural rights in the midst of civilized society, and the same rights to be maintained in a barbarous country. These defamers have not yet learnt to distinguish between moral law and legal obligation. But enough has been said, I trust, to convince impartial minds, that this Financial Association are only adepts in the circulation of base coin and counterfeit morality ; and that they have grossly violated the princi- ples of honesty and truth in the scandalous pamphlet which they have published over the signature of Roberson Gladstone — a name which should have some afiinity with respectability. ■'■■n 25 a man who tl, was that Tiall port at lage, by the sticc by the f retributive )hief Factor •course with )eratc act of cLaughlin is ■cncli on the hen those of to be better Canada to u not convict surround- ig piety, and ropists in the table laws of able to fulfil lall his blood t, antecedent k1, except by leir Creator ! lan the white of his wicked zation in the he murderous h their crime lim in execut- L as any body mutineers of ly messmates, ly dogged by of the Liver- terally butch- e horrid tale, Id such fiends n of justice is shores of the ich all human ich a body as le exercise of 30 maintained guish between , to convince circulation of jd the princi- ive published some affinity II I will now make some observations on the second proposition contained in the fore part of this letter — that is, will Canada be satisfied with the acquisition of the vast extent of country embraced within the valleys of the Red River and Siiskach- ewan, leaving to the Hudson's Bay Company the exclusive privilege of trading for any given number of years, in those immense portions of the territories wliicli they now occupy, and which are scarcely fit for the habitation of civili/cd man ? Canada I contend, will find ample ."^om to expand within the territories about to be uti.slgned to her. To extend the Government of Canada to the boundless pi'airies bordering on the Red River and the Saskachewan, must be the work of this and future genera- tions, and while this is going on, motives of prudence and economy dictate that the friendly protection and experience of a well organized and powerful body like the Hudson's Bay Company, Avill beneficially assist in checking and repressing the incursions of lawless savages and roving Americans, who would swarm around the habitations of peaceful settlers. None but those practically acquainted with the difficulties of living in the midst of such boundless wastes, infested with predatory tribes of Indians and wild beasts, can realize the privations and dangers to be encountered. Beyond the limits of the valleys of the Red River and tlic Sas- katchewan, the climate is excessively severe, no grain of any kind can be raised, scarcely potatoes, and nothing of value has yet been discovered, which ctm repay the cost of transportation to any civilized market. What strength or wealth then can be added to Canada by the possession of such profitless wastes ? In early days, when Canada was comparatively a wilderness, the Fur Trade was of great value and the Northwest Company were the lords paramount, but henceforward it will be scarcely worth contending for, and can only be carried on by vagrant trappers, whose delight is to roam beyond the bounds and restraints of civilization. I am aware that the views I have expressed on the Hudson's Bay Territory question, are not the most attractive, because the bulk of mankind will not be content with sober realities — tell them where wealth and happiness can be acquired without labour, and they will listen to you with eager delight ; but talk to them of hardships and miseries which they do not feel and they will turn a deaf ear, and say like Felix, go thy loay tim time ; token 1 have a convenient season I ivill call for thee. Just ideas, however, on any subject are only acquired through a long process of reasoning with much patience and reflection, and if we desire to act for the future welfare of Canada, these faculties must bo largely employed in discussing the question of annexing the Hudson's Bay territories to this already very extensive Province. EDWARD ERMATINGER. No. 9. — To the Editor of the Colonist^ Toronto. St. Thomas, 24th March, 1858. Sir, — Last year, while Judge Draper was in England, and various newspapers in Toronto were loud in condemnation of the course he was pursuing on the Hud- son's Bay question, I addressed a letter to the Colonist^ stating as my opinion that Mr. Draper took a very proper and sensible view of the whole question, and that he had asked " for all that Canada can reasonably desire, and for far more than at the present time we can avail ourselves of." And subsequently I went over the whole question, in replying, through the columns of the Hamilton Spectator, to the unfounded assertions and falsehoods of the Liverpool Financial Reform Association. I refer to that correspondence, because Judge Draper's report is now before the !i' I 2G country, and proves conclusively that the opinion I then advanced was correct, and founded on a just view of the whole subject. As the question of the Hudson's Bay Territories will no doubt bo prominently entertained during the present session of the Provincial Legislature, I beg to offer some observations, which I trust may have a tendency to disabuse the public mind, and cause our legislators to pause before they commit themselves on a subject with whicli they are only partially acquainted, and have been grossly misinformed through the public press. I am not the apologist of the Hudson's Bay Company, neither am I a panderer to popular prejudice ; but I claim to be an humble advocate of truth and fair dealing, the principles of which have been shamefully violated, by many of those who have advocated the annexation of the whole of the Hudson's Bay Territories to the Pro- vince of Canada. In the letter referred to I stated " that while the Hudson's Bay Company carry on the trade for their own advantage, they are the custodians of the whole of that vast territory for the British Empire." This is an important consideration, and the concessions which the Imperial Government propose to make to Canada of the valleys of the lied River and the Saskatchewan are a sufficient guarantee that we may acquire the whole of the vast territories east of the Rocky Mountains, whenever we feel in a condition to accept them — that is, when Canada shall have more than trebled her present population ! But it has been asserted that the Hudson's Bay Company have obstructed the progress of settlement, while the Americans have been pushing their settlements into the very heart of the territories. Half of this statement is true. The Americans have no doubt advanced civilization, in the direction of the Red River, much more rapidly than the Hudson's Bay Company have done ; but this is owing to the nature of ' he country through which it is approached on either side of the lines. It may with as much reason be said, that the progress of some American locations (Chicago for instance,) has been more rapid than the most flourishing localities in Can- ada. But the circumstances of different locations are so dissimilar that no compari- son can be fairly instituted without stating them. If Red River had been at the head of the finest lake and river navigation in the world, improved by costly canals and lighthouses ; if it had been in direct communication with the old settled portions of the United States and Canada, and even with Europe ; if it had possessed a magnificent country around it ; countless millions of acres, with a rich soil and warm climate, it is probable that no " incubus," as the L. F. R. Association styled the II. B Company, would have been sufficient to have stayed its progress. Like Chicago, which possesses the advantages above enumerated, all of which are denied to Red River, i might have presented an instance of rapid improvement to astonish the world. Why, it may be asked, is Quebec almost stationary, wliile Toronto increases rapidly ? and why should Montreal be more prosperous than Halifax ? Simply, because the advantages those cities respectively possess are not equal. The real cause which has opposed progress at Red River, is its remote inland situation. It is the most central settlement in North America ; equi-distant from the Atlantic and Pacific, the gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic Sea. It is surrounded on every side by an untamed wildernesss of hundreds of miles in extent. With all their energy the Americans have no such remote and insolated location (except, perhaps, the Mormon settlement.) Even in Canada remote settlements pine and languish under a similar " incumbus." The Sault Ste Marie though finely situated between the two great lakes, Huron and Superior, is merely a collection of poor hovels ; while at the ancient city of Quebec, settlement has not ex- tended twenty miles northward into the primeval forest. For the greater portion of the foregoing remarks, contrasting different localities ■with each other and the Red River Settlement, I am indebted to a friend well ac- quainted with the whole territory, and the correctness of his view I can vouch for. 27 The Government of Canada has ah-eady expended ^20,000 granted by the Leg- islature, I have no doubt, in .surveying and explorations, and this is a mere fraction of the sum that will be required to extend the empire of Canada to the Rocky Moun- tains ! 1 ask you then, Mr. Editor, whether we should not pause before commttingour- i^lvcs further to a scheme, which, to have any practical cft'cct, must involve Canada in an immense expenditure of public money, to do only what the Imperial (Jovernment is now doing for us without cost — that is, preserving the whole of the territory from American freebooters, untill Canada becomes of ago to take possession of it. With your permission I will offer some further observations on this subject in several letters, that both sides of the question may be better understood, before the Legislature acts on Judge Draper's Report. EDWARD ERMATINGE R. no compari- n at the head Y canals and lortions of the SI magnificent 1 climate, it is B Company, lich possesses i might have ly, it may be d why should aritages those osed progress settlement in Mexico, and 3S of hundreds 1 remote and 'anada remote It Ste Mario , is merely a t has not ex- rent localities •iend well ac- vouch for. St. Thomas, March 29, 18G8. No. 10. — Ho the Editor of the Colonist. Sir, — From the documents published it appears the Imperial Government is willing to concede, " That the Province should be free to annex to her territory such " portions of the land in her neighbourhood as may be available to her for the pur- " poses of settlement ; with which lands she is willing to open and maintain commu- " nication, and for which she will provide the means of local administration. The "districts on the Red River and Saskatchewan are those particularly referred to." If we duly consider Imperial as well as Colonial interests, and the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, I believe we shall admit that Her Majesty's Government could arrive at no other practical conclusion than the proposition above quoted, and that it embraces everything Canada can reasonably desire. This ought not to be treated as a political party question, and we may rest assured that the Imperial Government will not so regard it. Whatever the- Palmerston Administration has adopted with regard to it, will be confirmed by the Derby Cabinet. Therefore it is only for Canada to say whether she will accept the boon, if it be a boon, and fulfil the conditions attached to it. The conditions on which Canada may acquire the vast area of fertile prairies between the Red River and the Saskatchewan, said by Professor Hind to exceed 1,500,000 acres, is by opening and maintaining communication by means of roads or navigation, and by providing the means of local administration. Herein lies the almost insuperable difficulties to be encountered. Beyond the highest point of civiliza- tion reached by Canada, I am safe in saying there are 1000 miles of lake and river navigation to be gone over before arriving at the Red River Settlement, and part of this navigation so broken by falls and rapids, that even ordinary sized boats carrying from four to five tons merchandize cannot be used ; and when you have reached this JEJl Dorado, what do you behold ? Magnificent prairies, certainly boundless as the ocean, with very little water and less wood ; and neither Professor Hind nor any other person has been able to ascertain that those fertile prairies can produce either grain or esculent plants superior, if equal to those raised in Canada, where we have still millions of acres of land uncultivated, with plenty of water and fuel. With these simple facts before them, surely no Canadian Government would undertake to open up a route with a colony so distant as Red River, where no produce can be raised which will pay the expense of transport thence, even to Canada. There can be no doubt that the valley of the Red River and Saskatchewan are susceptible of being made the comfortable abode of millions of men and women, as they have been heretofore the hunting grounds of the red man and the pasture fields of innumerable herds of buffalo, deer, and cabris ; but it may be pertinently asked, is Canada in a position at the I Ji-'' 1^ 28 present time, to stock that vast territory with an industrious agricultural population, able not only to cultivate the ground, but at the same time to protect themselves against the Indians and marauders who infest the prairies. This leads me to consider the second condition of the proposed concession to Canada, namely, " that she will f>rovide the means of local administration ;" in other words, " that Canada shall estab- < ish an efficient government over the territory in question in place of that which at present exists.' In order to shew the difficulties which may be expected to arise in fulfilling this condition, it may bo well to consider the kind of people for whom it is sought to estab- lish responsible government; particularly that class of the population of Red River who are loud in their complaints of the Hudson's Bay Company. A friend well ac- quainted with them informs mo " they deny the rights of the crown as much as those of the company; they claim the country as their own birth-right, Avhcre they may do as they please, without interference by the Company, CroAvn or Parliament. At one time they claim the protection of British laMS against the Company ; at anotTier time when those laws are held up, they deny their allegiance, on the ground that they are natives. They have also curious ways of showing their high regard for the laws, such as threatening the life of a judge, surrounding the courthouse, in arms, refusing to pay duties imposed by thoir own municipality ; smuggling spirits, distilling illicitly, &c., &c." So that, to provide the means of local administration, the first step should be, when properly drilled and organized, to station the 100th, or Prince of Wales' Own, somewhere bctAveen the Saskatchewan and Red River, ready to sup- port the Canadian Rifles in any emergency which might arise. The inhabitants of the Red River are, many of them, natives, decendants of the aborigines, as well as of French and English parents, independent in their feelings, and not at all disposed to submit to the restraints of civilization ; consequently it is very doubtful whether the same system of government which we enjoy would be suitable to them. The govern- ment of the Hudson's Bay Company may not be the best adapted to suit the wants of the settlers, or to promote their happiness ; but the question is, will Canada be able to improve it without incurring a very heavy, and, in my humble opinion, a very profitless expenditure ; and then, it may be further asked, will it be improved ? In discussing a subject of the magnitude of the Hudson's Bay Territory, the interests of all parties should be considered, and, I am quite certain, Canada will lose nothing by discussing the question in all its bearings. St. Thomas, 27th March, 1858. EDW. ERMATINGER. No. 11. — To the Editor of the Colontat. St. Thomas, March 29th, 1858. When the popular tide sets all one way, without reflux, prudence and calm in- vestigation are generally thrown overboard, and the real merits of the question are lost sight of. So it proves with the Hudson's Bay territory question. Indeed we have no unmistakeable evidence of this, for not a year ago the proceedings of Chief Justice Draper were characterised as traitorous to the interests of Canada and the Government which appointed him were traduced on all hands. Now, men are be- f inning to look calmly at the question, and we have reason to believe, that through is judicious management of the question in England, Canada will be placed in a pos- ition to extend her dominion aa far as to the North- West on the continent of Ame- rica, as she can possibly desire. The mere abstract question of the validity of the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, or the boundaries between Rupert's Land and 29 Ifilling this it to estab- Rcd River nd well ac- ch as those ey may do it. At one notTier time .at they are r the laws, ns, refusing ng illicitly, ) first step »r Prince of ady to sup- labitants of , as well as all disposed whether the rhe govern- it the wants 1 Canada be 3 opinion, a J improved ? rritory, the Canada will !^GER. h, 1858. md calm in- question are Indeed we ings of Chief ada and the men are be- that through iced in a pos- entof Ame- lidity of the 's Land and Canada proper, are of little importnnco in tho present state of the question, for all of tho.^o vast territories, which are fit cither for settlement or civilization, are offer- ed to Canada on tho conditibns stated in Mr. Draper's report and accompanying doc- uments — and surely on no other conditions ciin we ever expect to take possession of those territories. Wc have not yet seen tho report of the gentleman, Mr. Gladman, who conducted the expedition to Red River hist Summer on behalf of the Canadian Government ; but when it docs make its appearance it cannot remove the difficulties which must attend the Hottlomentof Red River or the Saskatchewan, although it may smooth them over. No gentleman, however high his scientific attainments, can by a (this remark does not apply to Mr. Gladman, who is a native of the Hudson's Bay territory) hur- ried tour of a few weeks, during the choicest season of tiic whole year form so cor- rect an opinion of all the difficulties which must attend the occupation and settlement of the Hudson's Bay territories as persons who have travelled through them and resided in them for yetirs. It is seldom that tho red River is free from inundations in the spring to retard farming operations, or locusts, or some destructive kind of Grashop- pers to destroy the crops in summer ; and the reason for farming operations is so short, that it Is more than questionable whether that country, under any change of circum- stances, can over compete with Canada or the United States. It must be admitted that tho Red River settlement can produce nothing which Canada does not produce, except, perhaps, cattle in a larger degree, or the produce of cattle ; and this trade must be carried on through the United States ; unless we improve the navigation by canals, like tho St. Lawrence canals, or build a railroad equal to the Grand Trunk. This leads mo to advert to the first condition on which it is proposed to cede the val- leys of tho Rod River and tho Saskatchewan to Canada, namely : " That the Pro- vince should be free to annex to her territory such portions of the land in her neigh- borhood as may be available to her for the purposes of settlement — with which lands she is willing to open and maintain communication" — thatis, a distance of 624 miles above the head of Lake Superior, according to Professor Hind's calculation. Start- ing from Windsor or any point on Lake Huron, we may assume the distance from Lake Huron to Red River to bo 1,000 miles in round numbers Now to open and maintain communication with the Red River Settlement, to ben- efit either the Province or the colonists, during all season of the year, nothing short of a raiload can answer, and at a moderate calculation such a railroad would cost jG10,000 per mile or equal to j£10,000,000 or the whole line ! These figures may startle some of the gentlemen who advocate the annexation of the Hudson's Bay Company's territory to Canada ; but those who know the country through which such a road would have to pass, will bear me out in this statement, making every allowance for Professor Hind's short cuts — and then after the expenditure of $40,000,000 the communication between Lake Huron and Red River would not be in every respect equal to the communication from Quebec to Lake Huron. We should want uninteruptcd navigation still. The Red River Colony, commenced by Lord Selkirk nearly fifty years ago, num- bers at this time, according to the most authentic information, seven thousand souls, and to ray certain knowledge this slow growth has been going on, under every en- coura^^amcnt which the Hudson's Bay Company could offer. I was in the country frtrty years ago, when a largo imporation of settlers took place from Switzerland in tij Company's ships. I witnessed the hardships these poor people had to undergo, notwithstanding all the attention that was paid to them by the sei-vants of the Com- pany. I subsequently wintered near the head waters of the Assineboine, with one of the noble stock of Highlanders, the McDonalds of Glengarry. I sojourned for some time at the Red River Colony, and I had ample opportunity of noticing the progress of the settlment and the conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company towards -4'. 30 tho settlers ; but the natural cau.sos wliicli I Imve iihrady referred to have retarded its progress, and will continue to obstruct its growth and prosperity until the contin- ent of America becomes much more dersely popul'itcd than it is likoly to bo during tho present century. Those persons who attribute the stagnation of tho country to the Hudson's Buy Company, are either ignorant of tho facts, or falsify them to servo a purpose. The Company have offered premiums for tho growtli of llax, and the manufacture of linen and woollen cloths; they !• e imported improved breeds of sheep, horses, cattle and swine ; they have striven to excite the Hod River settlers to produce tallow, wool, hides, &c., &c., for market ; they have removed all restrictions, so that tho trade is as free as air ; but those eflbrts have been of no avail. The settlers arc not so much to blame for their apathy in neglecting those branches of trade. It was feared, and perhaps justly, that the cost in transporting such bulky produce to market would ren- der trade in them unreniunerative. Yet, w hat can be said for a people, who accord- ing to Prof. Hind's showing, have not yet learned to make their own soap ; an article BO essential to cleanliness that civilization can make no progress until people have learned to make it. I recollect an instance w hen I was in that country where the want of this domestic article was so great that some French Canadians killed a fine dog to obtain fat to make some ; but after eating the flesh of the dog, the fat was so tempting that they licked it all up and had to do without tho soap I There is more truth in this anecdote than in half the stories which have been written about the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, and the cause why tallow was then so scarce I will explain in my next, as it has some relation to the whole question. EDWARD ERMATINGER. No. 12. — To the Editor of the Colonist. St. Thomas, March 31, 1858. Sir. — ^Like other migratory animals, the buffalo seeks a warmer climate in winter than the prairies bordering on the Red River and the Saskatchewan, impel- led, no doubt, to travel in search of pasture. During winter therefore, only such as are worn out with age or other infirmities are to be found in those localities. These, generally, are the only game the huunter can overtake, and thei. flesh, it may be easily imagined, is neither very tender nor very fat, — hence the scarcity of tallow, where there are no domestic animals, for culinary purposes and soap- making. This, of course, is not the case now at Red River. I allude to the cir- cumstance of the scarcity of tallow in some parts of the prairie country, to draw attention to the fact of the climate not being so favorable to agriculture as might be imagined. The winters are both long and severe, and this fact is corroborated by the absence of the wild animals during that season, when they are obliged to seek a climate more congenial to their habits, and where they may find pasturage. This gloomy perspective is omitted by tourists in their highly-colored pictures of the Red River and Saskatchewan plains ; and I have no doubt the Turkish ambas- sador, and his suite, on their projected excursion, will learn as little of the miseries of a winter in the Hudson's Bay Territory as the happy inmates of his harem. But when Canada is invited to take possession of these magnificent pairies, (magnificent only ag long as they remain in a state of nature,) at a cost of many millions of dol- lars, to gratify either the vanity of national greatness, or to provide offices for a few pretended philanthropists, it becomes our duty to understand fully the bargain we are called upon to make. an 01 it nee prote( could lawles them gerou! which enable can ol "V countl ';/ systen] round( such a. the mc ,, of pa^ can su laws, r them- populs all the main would % every I of the ^ I ftion fo Ion sue ^f Cai 81 retarded the contin- bo during Jsou'h Buy pose. The lire ol'li net) , cattle and How, -wool, lie trade is lot 80 much feared, and would ren- who accord- ; an article icoplc have wlicrc the tilled a fine e fat was so here is more a about the en so scarce NGEU. h 31, 1858. r climate in ewan, impcl- re, only such :)se localities. ;hei: flc»h, it the scarcity es and soap- e to the cir- itry, to draw ure as might corroborated re obliged to nd pasturage, id pictures of irkish ambas- f the miseries ; harem. But 1, (magnificent lillions of dol- ) oflSices for a iy the bargain ■f To provide the means of local administration may appear no very diflUcult matter, nor \a it, when the territory to bo governed is sudicicntly near to feel the intliicnco of the central governing power, and when the governed are men accustomed to exercirtc all the rights and privileges of British subjects ; but place merely the machinery of government in a colony like Red llivcr, where, probably, a majority of the inhabitants have no higher idea of law or order than that which force im- poses, and leave the administrators of the law to perform the functions of govern- ment, supported only by such a population, and they will bo able to preserve law and order junt so long as the majority arc indulged in their indolent habits, and are allowed to consider that government is established for their special protection, without exacting from them any corresponding duties. Even the Hudson's Bay Company, who possess an amount of experience, and an organization not easily accjuired or maintained in so vast a territory, have felt it necessary- to hav) troops stationed at the Red River colony, not merely for the protection of their fur trade monopoly, for this my experience teaches mo they could do with their own resources but as a protection against the discontented and lawless portion of the inhabitants, incited, through the encouragement extended to them by parties in Canada as well as in England, to acts of insubordination, dan- gerous to the peace and welfare of the colony. Undoubtedly the prescriptive rights which the Company have acquired through their charter, valid or not valid, have enabled them to ac(iuiro and to exercise a power and influence, which no other body can obtain with the same amount of means. We have only to imagine the population of one of the smallest of our counties, half converted into half-breeds, transplanted into Red River to work out a system of government with municipal institutions such as we have in Canada, sur- rounded with everything that is wild in nature, and cut off" from all external ai''. — such a state of political existence would continue just so long as Canada furnished the means of propitiating the restless spirits both within and without the colony, or of paying troops to keep them in order. 1 need not tell you that no government can sustain itself, no matter how good the laws, unless the people subject to those laws, acquiesce in them, and are morally convinced that it is their duty to support I them — and what support, I would ask, could the government expect from such a population as would continue at Red River, after the Hudson's Bay Company and all their adherents had withdrawn ? For it is not to be supposed that they will re- main merely to support a government established for their destruction, and which would have no other effect than to destory, not only the fur trade, but to extirpate ' every British feeling, except so much as might be preserved among the paid officers j;|of the Government. Such an expectation would be preposterous. I have no desire to discuss this question with persons who have less considera- tion for the Hudson's Bay Co. than they have for mere squatters; for reason is lost on such persons. But I would address myself to those who have really the welfare lof Canada at heart, and who are not willing to jeopardize her best interests by any premature attempts to achieve national greatness. This is certainly not the age [for monopolies, nor is it exactly the age of reason ; but it is decidedly an utilitarian lage, and in this view I consider the Hudson's Bay monopoly, ought to be tolerated, [not for the benefit of the Company but for the benefit of Canada, and for the )enefit of the empire at large ; for most assuredly if you drive out the Hudson's [Bay Company, you will implant evils tenfold greater in their stead. The maraud- jrs and renegades from both sides of the lines will ruin the fur trade, and extirpate ^he Indians, keeping the isolated colony of Red River in a constant state of alarm md licentiousness, while the communication with Great Britain by sea will be total- abandoned. No other Company or body of individuals with sufficient means will It out ships to penetrate through fields of ice once a year — ^for what ? when the fur trade has boon scattered through the territory of Minnesota*? and of wlmt advantage would a diminishing trade of a few hundred tiiousund dollurs he to Canada, at the cost of maintaining a demoralized population in a state little better than that of vagrant Arabs ! Let not, then, the good sense of Canada bo overborne bv a more spirit of opposi- tion to the Hudson's Buy Company. There is too much ot this spirit manifested in Prof. Hind's report — although it is by no means so virulent as much that had appeared. Let the whole question, however, bo discussed in a spirit of fairness devoid of party spirit ; and i am convinced wo shall arrive at a proper conclusion. EDWARD ERMATINGER. at advantage la, at tho cost at of vagrant rit of opposi- iuanifosted in kuch that hud it of fairness )r conclusion. .TINGER.