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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour etre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la methods. 1 2 3 4 5 6 I I'll!! ti-.m [iiiiii iii 1!! m l5K |;iin Biii m m m I silsiiSiiiiiiiiiriK^ii'iSiin'ii!' s A -2 -'-= "A ^-D ^ Monday,, February 23rd, 1863. 1936 BOYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 111 A CROWDED Meeting, of this Society was held on Monday evenino- - Sir Roderick I. Murchison, K.C.B.^ President, in the Chair. The first Paper read was-^^ Rupert Land : the Colony and its Limits." By Captain Millin^ton H. Synge, R.E., r.R.G.S. This paper opened with an allusion to those read before the Society by the same author {vide vol. xxii. ' JournaF), which treated of the physical g-eog-raphy of the interior of British North America, as demon- stratmg' the feasibility of a communication across it from ocean to ocean. The features of the country were therein described, and the fact of an unbroken natural navig-ation was shown to exist between the Atlantic and Pacific; as also, by way of the Mac- kenzie River, between the Arctic Sea and either of the above oceans. Teleg-raphic intercourse was now about to be established between Canada and British Columbia by the joint efforts of thes^ co- Eolfrf''*'\^'Ti^''^^'*'"''^^^"^^ ^^*^^^ Proceedings of the iioyal Geographical Society. Vol. 7. ^o. 2. r, uo I EH!!!iilll! i ■!ii»*i4t4«m)inti llli iii! lii liii m m m f lonies, and an open intercourse would inevitably follow. , The intervening country was now used merely for hunting purposes, and it was alleged that the remunerative character of the fur-trade would be destroyed by the opening of the country. Its pre- sent holders were accordingly averse to the mipend- ing steps in that direction. It was not the mtention of Captain Synge to recapitulate his former argu- ments on the advisability of opening the country, but to complete the examination of the case under the aspects of historical and political geography. The first mention of Rupert Land-and Rupert Land, whatever that may be, is the country over which alone any claim can be advanced by a cor- porate body -occurs in the charter granted by Kmg Charles II. to a company styled that of " Adven- turers trading to Hudson Bay." vVith the Restora- tion the spirit of maritime adventure had revived, and the prosecution of an enterprise for the dis- covery of a short passage to the South Sea was again ardently desired. This object had fired the genius of Columbus; had led to nearly all the brilliant enterprises by which America was disco- vered, seized, and settled ; became subsequently an object of research in a more and more northerly direction, until it finally assumed the name of the North-West Passage. To prosecute this search was the object of the applicants for the charter and also of the King. The grant is specified to be liii t^B lt;n|lUl.llM^:t.rt«a»» :ablv erely t the Id be pre- pend- intion arg'u- mtry, under Upert y over a cor- ' King- Idven- sstora- Bvived^ le dis- 3a was •ed the all the 3 disco- itly an )rtherly ) of the search •ter and i to be for this purpose, as conducive to the g*ood of the whole people. It is also specified that Rupert Land is to be ^^ a colony/' and governed in harmony with the laws of England. This grant is worded so as to convey a monopoly of trade and of land upon the seas and borders of the supposed Passage, liead by this light — that of the day in which the charter was granted — it is obvious that its array of geographical phrases is made for the purpose of legal exhaustion of terms necessary in order to prevent any trespass upon the monopoly ; but the whole is bounded by the condition of proximity to the supposititious Passage by the express terms of coasts and confines^ There is also an excepting clause, viz. that the country be not at the time granted to or possessed by other subjects of the King, or of any other Christian prince or state. The country at the present day attempted to be claimed under these terms embraces, however, the whole head-waters of the Red River and of the Saskatchewan. These countries are in no wise con- tiguous to Hudson Straits, and they were occupied by the French or by those who inherited the French pretensions, not by the Company of Adventurers. This enlarged claim rests exclusive^ upon a very strained interpretation of the word " rivers." The inland navigations of America are by great lakes, and not by rivers. Besides the word " rivers" is sufficiently clearly shown to signify the embouchures necessary to give rights upon the coiifines of the \mmm^\ 4:-.^.u:,UHmuammm\Mwmm^^^^^ |i\ >tttiKMMIIIU>l4MtrmtMM I ciiii I liliiii m i;is 1:11 i Straits, first, by the express use of thnt term ; se- condlv, by the excepting clause ; and thirdly, by the tJtal omission of any reference to a land frontier as determined by a watershed. Historical geogra- phy entirely corroborates this view, for no exclusive claims to either the trade or land of the interior was set up until the whole of the traders into these re- gions were amalgamated into one body after the Lat conflicts with the North-West Company of Canada. During these conflicts the Hudson Bay Company advanced no pretensions of r.g-l.t to a monopoly. AH the puUic instructions both of the Home and Colonial Governments decide that an equal right existed on either side within legal limits, and it was only subsequently to the amalgamation that it became the common interest of all to set up these pretensions under the only document giving semblance to a right on which these enlarged claims could be based. The French posts extended to Fort Piscayac, on the Saskatchewan, besides others seen by Mackenzie as far as Athabasca Lake. The country required for the purposes of estab- lishing the overland transit, in the first instance, was not within the limits of Kupert Land ; but Kupert Land was a grant in trust for the purpose of attaining the objects of that short and rapid com- munication. The President said the object of the author of the Paper was to see established free communicahoB bj^tween he two great British possessions upon the east and west of North llil J se- )ntier lusive >r was se re- 3r the [iiy of I Bay : to a of the lat an limits, mation set up giving" claims (led to , others k / • estab- istance, d 5 but purpose lid com- he Paper the two of North America. The communication involved other considerationa of international Law and of the effect to be given to the wording of charters and treaties, upon which few of those present were competent to speak. Fortunately he saw his friend Dr. Traversj Twiss near him, and he would ask that gentleman to offer a few observations upon the subject. Dr. Travers Twiss said, assuming that the Hudson Bay- Company had under their charter a power to throw impedi- ments in the way of a passage, whether by telegraph or railway, through the Eocky Mountains, there was still a higher power at home which could remove those impediments ; therefore he did not at all despair of overcoming them, assuming that they did exist. In addition to the legal and geographical question, there was also the historical view, which was not precisely as Captain Synge regarded it. The real difficulty which arose in regard to almost all charters and treaties of boundary resulted from the disposition of diplomatists to take a river as a boun- dary, which, when traced to its head sources, threw everything into confusion. A difficulty of this character arose between ourselves and the Tin ted States, when we came to trace the head-waters of the rivers that were to separate the north-east boundaries. In the grant to the Hudson Bay Company, the phrases " land upon the rivers," " territory upon the rivers," were made use of. It has always been understood, both in grants and treaties, when these words are used, that they mean all the land upon the rivers up to their head-waters — up to the high lands where they take their rise. Assuming for the mo- ment that in the grant to the Hudson Bay Company all the land upon the rivers was included, we then had to trace the head-waters of those rivers ; and it would be found, precisely as it was discussed at the Treaty of Utrecht, that we should have to commence with Lake Mistassinnie, then come to the Lake Abbitibis, then to the Eainy Lake— the waters of which flow into the Lake of the "Woods, and thence into Lake Winni- peg, and finally find their way into Hudson Bay. Prom the Eainy Lake we must trace a line to the Eed Lake, follow that up to Lake Travers, which is at the head of the Eed Eiver, m lat. 45°, and thence keep on to the lowest sources of the Sas- katchewan, in lat. 48°. Thus we get the real geographical 'B1 atffijMtfliB raaaM^udituMMM iH II s m I hi 1 |r>! boundary, or the head-water-lino, of the grant to the Hudson Bay Company, InaBmuch as all these rivers flow northwards, and find their way, through a moat intricate navigation, 11111- mately into Hudson Bay. Of course the grant was limited, it it proved to conflict with a previous grant, or with land in the occupation of other countries. Besides the Hudson Bay Company there was the Nouvelle France and the Louisiana companies, which had been formed by the Erencli. A great contest arose be- tween us and the French in this part of the country, and the first was concluded by the Treaty of Eyswick, in which the Frencli King recognised the title of William HI. to the throne of England ; and in return for that William III. recognised what we call the uti possidetis, agreeing that the laud should reuiain as it was possessed by the Trench, no question of right or title being raised. But when we came to the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the French King agreed, not to cede, but to restore, to Queen Anne " all the Bay and Straits of Hudson, and all the coasts, rivers, &c." Commissioners were to be appointed to mark out the boundaries, not landwards, in regard to the sources of rivers, but coastwards ; for the real question was, in fact, :.o determine the extent of Hudson Bay, that portion of water into which these rivers flowed. Those Commissioners were never appointed : consequently no boundary was ever determined under that treaty between the English and French possessions. Now, the question which Captain Synge raised about the French possessions extending indefinitely north- wards, was the great argument used by the United States Go- vernment against ourselves in 184.6, in connexion with the Oregon boundary, in regard to which it claimed to have suc- ceeded to the French rights in Louisiana, which originally be- longed to the French, and who really penetrated as far north as the Athabaska Lake, where Mackenzie, in his first great exploration, discovered the remains of two small French settle- ments. The Americans claimed 49° as the boundary, alleging that that was the line agreed upon at the Treaty of Utrecht as the boundary between the English and French possessions, and claiming to have succeeded to the French title under that treaty. But in 1763, after the siege of Quebec, when the whole of Canada was ceded to us, the French Governor, the Mar(^uii^ t r liiiiSiiUiSiiS RffiJfflOTSlSirJGOSSlffiEiliHlSail !ttrtiiffii!iWi!iit'.mtKn?:mmti BU»Si«lw de Vaudreuil, named the Bed Lake, where the waters com- raence to flow northwards, as the northernmost point of Canada;^ and therefore, so far, conceded that the political boundary of the French possessions did not extend higher than the Eed Lake. Ho now came to what really was the meaning of the charter of the Hudson Bay Company. That charter gave the Company all the country, all the coasts, and all the rivera flowing into Hudson Bay and Hudson Straits. Whatever questions might arise as to that definition, about the rivers there was no difficulty whatever, because after the Treaty of Utrecht all the rivers flowing into Hudson Bay were conceded to be British rivers. It seemed to him, therefore, that the historical view was opposed to what Captain Synge had stated, further than the fact of the extension of French settiements of hunters as for as the Lake Athabaska. Nor was the argument quite consistent with the legal interp.-etation of the word " rivers." At the same time what he had told us was extremely interesting, because of the great prospective im- portance of that country; it possessed enormous mineraJ wealth, which would one day be explored and worked. Captain Synge expressed his satisfaction that the question had been taken up in the manner in which it had been dealt with by Dr. Twiss. The opening of the country as a route to the Pacific appeared close at hand, and it was this circumstance that gave so great, immediate, and practical an interest to the subject. He had been greatly struck eleven years ago when li-st bringing before the Society the physical geography of the country of interior British North America, as proving the feasibility of such a route, and the particulars of the direction- posts and characteristics of the latter, that the discussion which ensued instantly took the form of an attack on the Hud- son Bay Company. He subsequently found all those who were in favour of the country were strongly under the impression that the Company was the obstruction really in the way. Now he himself at that time knew the Hudson Bay Company only by name. He had not then examined the charter at all. Satisfied that no such antagonism existed between the assumed proprietary of so magnificent a territory and those who were strenuously seeking io develop its resources to the utmost, he iiiiuiBiiii»8iiiiiia!.1l^i^. JffiintfflfiluMifaiiWii^iA-iWiiAMMiwtife^waiwJJU {fssHHssfssisniSi! irap"»ii;'=lSi:-a mm mmmmmmmmm fm niBtm r.mu 1 lil m m P rlllll i r-il! .8" |x' SI lltl |!ti brouglit this view nnder tlio consideration of the Board of the Company ; but without effect. The reply practically amounted to this— that the fur-trado was remunerative and met all their desires. The Company had not, however, been content with a passive opposition. They were, in fact, in many forme the vigorous opponents of every effort to open np the country. The position was, therefore, this :— The Company apparently most interested in the success of the efforts he and others were contending for, were the most resolutely hostile to all those efforts. There appeared, therefore, but one alternative as a solution of this line of conduct. Either we must be en- tirely mistaken as to the value of the country and of the route, or tenure of that country by the Company was invalid. Ho had purposely confined himself as much as possible to the geo» graphical investigation of the limits of Eupert Land, and had intentionally glanced as briefly as possible at the historical confirmation of the limits as he had sketched and believed them to be ; but he hoped he had shown it to be beyond dispute that Ptupert Land was held as a trust only, and that tlio object of that trust -was identical with that which gave its present in- terest to the question, viz. the opening of a communication with the Pacific. He could not adopt the principle contended for bv Dr. Twiss, that the inland navigations of North America came under the category of rivers. The great lakes were not the St. Lawrence. Under any circumstances all the interior country, as he had shown he trusted, sufiiciently clearly, how- ever briefly, came under the excepting clause. The Hudson Bay Company evidently had no claim to it ; nor, until recently, had they advanced any under their charter. In 1817, when the Hudson Bay and the North-West Companies were brought face to face, the Hudson Bay Company made no pretension to monopoly ; they did not call upon the Government to protect them : but the most peremptory instructions were sent by the Home and Colonial Governments that the conflicts of the Companies' servants were to be put a stop to, and all impedi- ments raised on either side against any traders or others of the King's subjects were to be removed. If their monopoly dated from 1803, how could they claim it under their charter ? The question could not be avoided, for the settlement of the coun- uiwiitimimitM ^mML.iz....»im I of the nounted all their t with a •me the 20untry. parently I others le to all ernative t be en- 10 route, id. He the geo« and had listorical red them mte that Dbject of Dsent in- ion with nded for America vere not interior •ly, how- Hudson recently, L7, when i brought msion to protect sent by its of the 1 impedi- srs of the 3ly dated r ? The ihe coun- 11 try, shown to bo imminent, could not take place without the grant and transfer of laud. It became indispensably necessary therefore to inquiro with whom, if with any one but the Crown, a title to grant lay-^ and to what that title amounted and over what it extended. To effect a legal transfer there must bo a legal title. TJiat title, if legale extended over Rupert Laud. Hence the interest and importance of the question — Wliat are its limits? The Peestdent, In thanlang Captam Syngo for his commu- nication, said the Geographical Society, happily, were not called upon to settle that question, Mr, A. K. Isbister, M.A., of the Middle Temple, foi* many years the authorised and well-known re- presentative of lied River interests, and disting'uished for the literary and lej^-al research he has brought to bear upon the matter, as well as for his perfect mas- ter}' of the whole subject, attended the meeting' of the lloyal Geographical Society, at which this paper on Rupert Land was read. Unfortunafttty, Mr. Isbister was not afforded the opportunity of taking* part in the discussion ; but, unwilling* to lose the observations to which he con- ceived the reply of Dr. Twisa to be open, and the weight that would attach to them as emanating* from himself, I requested Mr. Isbister to obligee me with them for the purpose of presenting* them in an edi- tion of my larg*er pamphlet. He has been so g'ood as to comply with my request, and has favoured me with the follow iii<>' remarks: — *^ I reg'ret that I had not an opportunity of making* a few observations on the remarks of Dr. Twiss which appeared to me to be open to exception in several important points. I iSllffilSifSIlitillil!! rtwinofmnrHiSinsrriiSiS [2 I I tilt If m m m KB 111 P m ttn "The turnings poi u in the history of Rupert's Land was the treaty of R3^swick. The question of the rig-hts of England and France respectively to the territory around Hudson's Bay, had been in dis- pute for many years before, and this treaty, instead of agreeing" to raise ^ no question of rig'ht or title/ as Dr. Tvviss asserts, did precisely the rie verse,— it agreed to raise and to settle both. " ^ Commissioners shall be appointed,' says the 8th Article of the Treaty, ^ on both sides to examine and determine the rig-hts and pretensions which either of the said kings hath to the places situated in Hudson's Bay. But the possession of those places which were taken by the French during THE PEACE that preceded the present war, and were retaken by the Eng'lish during* the war, shall be left to the French by virtue of the foregoing- ar- ticle.' " A French historian, Charlevoix, speaking* of this treaty, observes, ^ Pour ce qui est de la Baye d'Hudson elle nous resta toute entiere parceque nous en etions les 'possesseurs actuelsJ And if this view be open to the objection that it is that of a Frenchman, naturally biassed in favour of his own country, here is that of Mr. Bancroft, a perfectly impartial witness, who, in his ^ History of the United States,' thus records the result of this treaty: ^ In America,' he says, ^ France retained all Hud- son's Bay and all the places of which she was in possession at tlie beg'inning* of the war j in other words, with the exception of the eastern moiety of l>iifigww»t>miiwmniw<«iimw!Wi!TOi!8nimmffiffi1g!l!5?ffi:i!Hti.!BB!B^^ Rupert's lestion of tively to ;n in dis- , instead or title/ erse,— it says the examine IS which situated of those DURING ^ar, and ar, shall •oing' ar- ig" of this la Baye parceque d if this bat of a his own perfectly of the s treaty: // Hud- was in in other loiety of i I 13 Newfoundland, France retained the whole coast and adjacent islands from Maine to beyond Labrador and Hudson's Bay, besides Canada and the valley of the Mississippi.' " And this brings us to a very curious and re- markable incident in the history of the Hudson's Bay Compau}", on which Dr. Tvviss is altogether silent. " The Charter under which the Company was in- corporated, was granted on the sole authority of King Charles II., without the sanction of Parliament, and thus in direct violation of the well-known Statute of 21 James I. cap. 3, which declared all such mono- polies of trade granted under the sole prerogative of the Crown, to be ^altogether contrary to the laws of the realm, and utterly void and of no effect.' To remedy this defect, the Company in 1090 petitioned Parliament for an Act to legalise their charter, and, after .some discussion, a Bill was passed confirming* the Charter, but ^ for seven years only and no longer.' On the expiration of the seven years, the Company applied to Parliament for a renewal of the Act, but WITHOUT SUCCESS ; and, incredible as it may ap- pear, the}' have from that time to this continued to trade upon the unconfirmed grant of King- Charles II. — a grant the illegality of which they had them- selves practically admitted by applying* to Parlia- ment for an Act of the legislature to confirm it. " But," says Dr. Twiss, ^' when we come to the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the French king- agreed I'ii Hi IliL liii iii m mmmim. y^iiiiiiittittiiiiuiatiiiiiiJistii ill i P iilili PI m Eiii lit 1^ not to cede but to restore to Queen Anne ' all the Bay and Straits of Hudson and all the coasts and rivers, &c.' There can be no strong-er evidence than the very phraf>:e on which Dr. Twiss insists, that the Treaty of Ryswick did confirm the French right to Hudson's Bay, for it is manifest that France could not ^ restore' what was not hers to g-ive back. But to WHOM was it RESTORED? To the Hudson Bay Company ? No ; for they were not even alluded to in any part of the treaty, and their claims and pre- tensions, whatever they may have been, appear to have been utterly ignored. The ' restoration' was made to the Crown of England, which then, for the first time, acquired an undoubted title to the country by right of treat]/, and had then for thefrst time the undoubted right of granting it away. In the ab- sence of any specific grant to individuals, the right of British subjects to visit and trade in these regions would follow the national rights acquired by the Sovereign by the cession of the territory, and as en- joyed by the subjects of France previous to that ces- sion. " The Hudson Bay Compan}^ obtained no grant either of territory or trade subsequent to the Treaty of Utrecht. They simply squatted down upon the unoccupied territory, and have ever since kept pos- session of it, but without any right or title to it, other than those at this moment possessed by all British subjects without distinction. " The claims now put forward by them are, in Li:. Ijt) H!!!ti"'|'!!f.i;'V'!!"j 15 ^^ll the asts and nee than that the rig-ht to 36 could k. But on Bay luded to md pre- ■>pear to ion' was , for the country time tJie the ab- he rig-ht regions by the d as en- ^Jiat ces- grant 3 Treat}^ pon the ept pos- ;le to it, d by all are, in fact, based on mere assertion, and nothing more^ and vanish on the first test of critical or legal scrutiny. They are invalid not upon one, but on several distinct grounds. The Charter itself, so far as regards its most important provision, the rio'ht of exclusive trade, was void from the first, as it was granted without the authority of Parlia- ment ; and it continues illeg-al to this day, as the tem- porary Act of William and Mary inl690i confirming- it for seven years^ has never been renewed. The territories now held under the Charter were claimed, and to a great extent occupied, by the French be- fore the date of the Charter^ which expressly ex- cepted "all lands and territories at that time possessed by any other Christian Prince or State " ; they were made over to France formally, and with the strongest acknowledgment of her previous right to possess them, within thirty years after that date, and remained to a great extent in the possession of the French until the peace of Utrecht, which finally g-ave over, and for the Jirst time, the whole of Hudson's Bay to England. "The Miistorical view,' then, far from being- ^op- posed to Captain Synge,' is, on the contrary, opposed to Dr. Twiss, who has here, I a i afraid, mistaken both his history and his law." In further refutation of the defence set up by Dr. TvisB, I would remark that in reality he yields the points at issue. Whatever stress it might have been attempted to IH- Hill iP.ii turn ijiil iii.j i) pi lilil !ISl| : ;»1 iiii iiii ill m S9l:ilf.f!!lfi!ill!mB i m i lip fiim I liilSi Pi liiil I 111! |:j lilt Eli! pi IS) lit! 10 lay upon the inland connection of the Saskatchewan rivers, of the Assiniboine, and of the Bed River, with Lake Winnepeg', and thus throug'h the Nelson and Saskatchewan rivers with Hudson Bay, and with whatever ing-enuity it might have been contended that this vast interior connection of rivers and lakes was a river, it can under the circumstances of the case avail little or nothins*. First, it was no question of diplomatic or interna- tional determination of a boundary, but of a term in a Crown Charter, inserted for a purpose sufficiently evident from the context, as^ fully explained in the body of the following* pag"es. Secondly, the extent of g-rant was expressly limited and defined by condition of proximity to Hudson Bay, which Dr. Twiss wholly passes by in silence. Thirdly, the country was specifically excluded by the proviso against the possibility of a claim being- advanced to the prior possession of any other Chris- tian prince. Prior, that is, at whatever time the Company mig-ht prosecute discovery in each localit3\ Now, Bobert Cavalier de la Sale, from whose pro- posal the rapids and villag-e near Montreal derived the name of La Chine, projected the overland pas- sage in 1679 as the shortest woaj to China arid to Japan, The very point his successors are still con- tending* for. Charles Marquis de Beauharnois, Lieutenant-Ge- neral of La Nouvelle France, fostered the prosecu- tion of the same enterprise, and under his auspices s$ Latcliewaii !-iver, with elson and and with r^ontended and lakes es of the I' interna- a term in efficiently led in the ly limited Hudson silence, eluded by dm beins: ler Chris- time the 1 locality, hose pro- 1 derived i?id paS' a and to still con- nant-Ge- prosecu- auspices i 17 Pierre Gautier de VarenneS; penetrated to the Rocky Mountains in 1731. If farther confirmation were needed as to the limitation of the g'eog*raphical terms to the confines of the suppositious straits and to Hudson's Bay^ as well as to the fact that this was at the time per- fectly well understood, it ib found in the omission of the words island or islarids, and in the second Charter of 1674, obtained expressly to confer an island, also suppositious, to w^hich the name of Busse Island w^as given. Not only was a separate grant deemed necessary to confer the island, but precisely the same conditions of contiguity to it are prescribed even in the grant of exclusive trade of " the seas, bays, inlets, rivers, creeks, and sounds " near it. It was supposed to be between 67 and 59 N. Lat., and evidently to be thereby, both as to itself and to all its contiguities, too remote from the ^' coasts and confines '' of the previous grant to be included in the first Charter ! This island, which had no existence, is 7iot granted in trust ; and in so far may be held to be a possession of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Charter* runs as follows : — ChAETER GEAISTTED BT KlNG ChARLES II. TO THE HuDSON's- Bat Company, dated 13th May, 1674. " Charles II., by the grace of G-od, to all to whom these presents shall come greeting — " Know ye, that we, for divers good causes and considerations * I am indebted to Mr. A. Isbister for information as to the existence of this Charter and for a copy of it. ii iilj m i I ill I imrnkm gillJllS nnini!:!! li:i;li:!|i!l:;i!:i:; §iiiiiiii!|!giilijiiiiiilili!;!:iiiii£ii{iiiiiii swiSi ill ■:!!■! 1i .■la I Iiul > Inji liiin P thereunto especially moving us, of our own especial gi'aco, certain knowledge, and mere motion, have given and granted, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do give and grant unto the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay, and their successors, all the Island called the Busse Island, lying between fifty-seven and fifty-nine degrees of northern latitude, or thereabouts, and the sole trade and commerce of all the seas, bays, inlets, rivers, creeks, and sounds whatsoever, lying within, near, or about the said island, with the fishery of all sorts of fish, as well whales, sturgeon, and all royal fishes, as other sorts of fish in the seas, bays, inlets, and rivers aforr-oaid; together with the royalty of the sea and all lakes, creeks, and bays, upon, about, or within the island aforesaid, and the mines royal, as well found as not discovered, of gold, silver, gems, and precious stones, to be found or discovered within the island aforesaid. And we do, by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, make, create, and constitute the said Governor and Company for the time being, and their successors, the true and absolute lords and proprietors of the said island, and of all other pre- mises, saving always the faith, allegiance," &c. As to the growing- importance and the increasing- urgency of the question, I may add that indisput''- aMe proof has again been afforded of the compara- tive ease with which the Rocky Mountains may be crossed. Tidings have been received of the safe passage across of 146 emigrants, with a woman and three children, 150 in all, with their cattle and horses. They went by the Leather or Old Jasper House pass, where affluents of the Eraser and Athabaser rivers rise; and they were not even aware that they had crossed the summit until they Li:. m if 3cial grace, id granted, ors, do give enturers of !cessors, all fifty-seven hereabouts, )ays, inlets, in, near, or fish, as well 3 of fish in ;ether with bays, upon, es royal, as lid precious 1 aforesaid. successors, 1 Company ad absolute [ other pre- 19 perceived that the waters were flowing* in the opposite direction ! Moreover, it is now becoming- g-enerally known throug-hout the interior that many parts of the district of the Saskatchewan, though widely sepa- rated, are paying* g-old districts. A direct road to the Red River settlement, suffi- ciently removed from the frontier of the Noi'thern States, is also in a fair way of being* shortly opened. lijsjj i IHlf lilijl UUil t:!!:| liiin I I pi Mitll tt!i:| iiil III nil i!;::L pi;] icreasnio' indisput- compara- 8 may be the safe »man and attle and id Jasper aser and not even mtil they liii in Stli^