Gass r/o (t t Book \^ I c,&^ / THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, 4> 3 6 POSITIOlf AND PROSPECTS. THE SUBSTANCE OF AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF THE SHAREHOLDERS, IN THE LONDON TAVERN, ON THE 24th JANUARY, 1866. BY JAMES DODDS. TOiti) a ifHap. SECOND THOUSAND. LONDON : EDWAED STANFOED, 6, CHAEINa CEOSS, S.W. AND A. H. BAILY & CO. 3, EOYAL EXCHANGE BUILDINGS, E.C. 1866. u. r^.-i'^' • ok 3 - y:?7A o PREFACE. A WISH having been expressed for the publication, in a revised and authentic form, of the following Address on the Hudson's Bay Company, I have reproduced, as near as memory served me, the portions that were actually delivered. But, I have also added several points which I intended to bring forward, but forbore, from an anxiety not to trespass upon the time of the audience — the busy men of the busiest city in the world at a still busy period of the day. The principal authorities (independent of some private informants on whose accuracy I could rely), from which I have dra\Aai my facts, are the following: — Paeliamentaey Papees : — Hudson's Bay Company ..... 1850 Eeport from Select Committee on Hudson's Bay Company . 1857 Hudson's Bay Company's Charter and Licences . . 1859 Conferences between Her Majesty's Government and Deputation from Executive Council of Canada . . . 1865 Hind's Canadian Expedition into Kupert's Land, &c. . 1860 Palliser's Exploration of British North America . 1859-60-63-65 Index and Maps to Captain Palliser's Reports . . 1865 Hind's Narrative of Canadian Exploring Expeditions . 1860 Hudson's Bay Company's Eeports from 28th November . 186-1 Martin's Hudson's Bay Territories .... 1849 Fitzgerald's Examination of Hudson's Bay Company Monro's British North America Dinsmore's American Railway Guide Nor'Wester Newspaper of Eed Eiver . EusseU's Canada .... Eawlings' Eoute from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean Eowe's American and Australian Colonies Lord Selkirk's British Fur- Trade in North America Berghaus' Chart of the World . Journal of Society of Arts Statesmen's Year Book .... 1849 1864 November, 1865 1865 1865 1865 1864 1816 1863 March, 1861 1866 IV PREFACE. I was much assisted at the Meetmg "by being able to refer to the large niap of the Territory belonging to the Company, and which was most readily and kindly lent for the occasion by the Directors ; and now the readers of this publication will be equally assisted by the ac- companying map, prepared and executed in Mr. Stanford's establishment. Coming from such a quarter, its fidelity can be absolutely depended upon, and every care has been taken to make it clearly illustrative of the letter-press. Only leading places are shown, so as not to burden attention with what is insignificant or irrelevant ; and by varieties of tinting the great cha- racteristic features of the country are brought pro- minently before the mind. The patient and cordial attention of the Meeting at the London Tavern, composed chiefly of city men, whose every minute was valuable, was a sufficient reward for my small labours. I hope, in this published form, the Address may continue to be useful and stimulating to my fellow-shareholders, who have need, at this turning- point in the Company's afPairs, of knowledge, union, and decision, to see that their interests are not lost by delay, intrigue, or weakness, and that the resources of their splendid property are fully developed. The Gentlemen who convened and conducted the Meeting are anxious to give a short account of their stewardship to the body of the shareholders, by whom they were so respectably supported on that occasion. This will be found in a Statement at the end of the pamplilet. J. D. 18, Ahingdun Street, West minster, March, 1866. THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY I HOPE when you have heard me, I shall stand ac- quitted of any charge of presumption in coming forward to open the proceedings of this meeting by an Address upon the position and prospects of the Hudson's Bay Company. I was led by accidental causes to bestow some atten- tion upon this subject; and the gentlemen who have convened this meeting thought it might be of use if I were to lay before my fellow-shareholders the results of my investigation. It might diffuse information amongst those who had not time and opportunity to prosecute the study for themselves ; and might guide the way to further deliberations upon the new interests and new relations of the Company. I beg to state distinctly at the outset, that I am not here to raise up any party in the Company, or to utter any reproaches or recriminations against the Directors. They have chosen to maintain a reserve, a silence, some call it a mystery, which I believe has been unsatisfactory and displeasing to many of the shareholders. But I have no doubt when the time comes that they can make a clean breast, they will be able to satisfy us that they have not been actuated by any pedantic stiffness and pride, but have been tongue-tied out of regard to ulterior interests which might be damaged by premature dis- closures and discussions. In consequence of this inveterate silence however, the shareholders are left to themselves, without chart or B 2 THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY. compass, and must do the best they can m watchmg the com'se of events, and m urgmg the adoption of some more defined and decided measm'es for the common protection and welfare. We have been for years approaching an extraordinary crisis in our affairs ; we are now thoroughly involved in it ; we must adapt our antiquated and semi-barbarous fashions to the requirements of modern civilization; and upon our prudence or weakness as a Company for the next two years, will depend — whether we shall sink in decrepitude and contempt, or soar to a higher pinnacle of prosperity than ever, carrying along with us the pro- gress and improvement of humanity. That you may have before you at once the whole topics in connection with the Company on which I am to address you, 1 have to premise that I shall — FiEST — Describe their territory. Second — Explain their title. Third — Sketch their history. Fourth — Notice the circumstances at woik which must precipitate a change of policy. Fifth — Consider what ought to be the new policy. I. Tpie Territory. This Territory has no one established name in geo- graphy. Its name will be a creation of the future. In the Charter of the Company (to which I shall have to refer), it was called Rupert's Land ; it has been com- monly styled the Hudson's Bay Territory ; and in old geographies I see that some portion of it at one time bore the name of New Britain — a name which I hope may yet be revived. I shall generally speak of it under the chartered name of Rupert's Land. THE TERRITORY. 3 Rupert's Land occupies the central mass of British America, and is bounded by Canada and the Atlantic on the east, by the Arctic Ocean on the north, on the west by the Eocky ]\Iountains, British Columbia, and the large unallotted Indian Territory, and on the south by the Boundary-line of the United States. Although as yet imperfectly surveyed, we may take the area about 2^ millions of square miles — nearly equal to all Europe counting, out Russia. The population is miserably dis- proportionate to the size, being only about 100,000, including some 11,000 whites and half-breeds, the rest being various tribes of Indians. You will observe that a chain of lakes and lake- rivers runs through this Territory from the south-east, near the water-shed of Lake Superior, in a north-westerly direction towards the Arctic Ocean. This is the Lake Region. To the east, or Atlantic side, is the Granite ; to the west, or Rocky Mountain side, is the Prairie Region. There are then three geological regions or sub-divi- sions in Rupert's Land — the Granite, the Lake, and the Prairie. The Granite region, (near four-fifths of the whole territory in extent,) seems to be chiefly composed, as its name denotes, of the granitic and other primitive rocks. It has been summarily depicted, on slight observation, as bare^ rugged, and desolate. Further acquaintance is modifying that view, for it is more and more found to be variegated with rich valleys and fine picturesque spots. For the present however we may lay it out of view, as a place for anything like immediate agricul- tural settlement. It must not however be supposed to be a useless country. Far from it. It has always been one of the B 2 THE Hudson's bay company. chief haunts of the fur-bearing animals — one of the chief seats of our Fur- trade; and it is expected by all geologists, that it will yet be found stored with the most valuable minerals — iron and copper, and perhaps gold. They have lately discovered gold in the same formation, on the American side, west of Lake Su- perior. The two other regions {Lake and Prairie)^ lying to the west of the Granite, and stretching to the Eocky Mountains by a succession of slopes or terraces rising from 600 to 3000 feet above the sea-level, may be taken together ; for though they have many geological diversities, they are substantially the same in soil and produce, being generally composed of soft materials, overlaid with a rich vegetable mould, from a few inches to several feet in thickness. From geological descrip- tions they seem very much to resemble in structure and quality the South of England, from Devonshire to Sussex and Kent. The Lake and Prairie regions are now commonly known as the Basin of Lake Winnipeg, for all their streams and rivers flow into that Lake — a capacious inland sea of fr-esh- water, 300 miles long, and 50 broad, 400 miles at the nearest point south-west of Hudson's Bay. The Winnipeg Eiver and its feeders from the Canadian side— the Red River, from near the springs of the Mississippi —the Assiniboine, ft'om the heart of the Prairies— the North and South Saskatchewans, fr'om the innermost defiles of the Rocky Mountains— all pour their volumes into the reservoir of Lake Winnipeg. This Winnipeg Basin contains about 400,000 square miles, all, with one exception, more or less capable of cultivation, and which no doubt will in the course of ages, become a varied and interesting and fi'uitful THE TERRITORY. country. The one exception consists of a spur of the Great American Desert, which penetrates for about 120 miles into the south-west corner of Eupert's Land. This, which in the United States is a long, wide, arid desert, spreading in melancholy waste the whole length of the continent, and from the valley of the Missis- sippi-Missouri, to the Eocky Mountains, and thence to the Pacific, over no less than 1,000,000 square miles, nearly one-third of the whole United States, can scarcely, when it passes the boundary-line into Eupert's Land, be described as a desert ; it becomes so mitigated in its sterile qualities, and interspersed with so many spots of verdure and abundant vegetation. In Eu- pert's Land it ought rather to be called, in distinction from the real American desert, by the name it used to receive from the old French voyageurs, the Couteau — meaning by that, I suppose, a country marked by sharp ridges. This Couteau-grovLU^ is so diversified in quality, and so irregular in its outline, that it is difficult to say what extent is decidedly inferior land ; but we shall put the proportion high — say 50,000 square miles — which would still leave in the Winnipeg Basin 350,000 square miles, or 214,000,000 acres, capable of beneficial cultivation — about as much as France and Spain put together. But these immense quantities must be left for a distant posterity to deal with ; for the purposes of the day we must come down to more measurable amounts. This same Winnipeg Basin comprehends that zone 'or tract of country now so well kno^vn as the Fertile Belt of Eupert's Land — a tract of country, as its very title implies, which travellers and scientific explorers declare to be unsm-passed for fertility, productiveness, beauty, and adaptation for industrial settlement: — ''In 6 THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY. some parts," says Captain Palliser, Commander of the British Government's Expedition of 1857-60, a man who indulges in no rhetorical flom'ishes — "in some parts rivalling the finest park scenery of om' own country.'' The Fertile Belt, varying in breadth, enters Rupert's Land with the course of the Eed Eiver, about the 96th meridian, girdles that River on both sides, turns to the north-west between the Assiniboine and Lake Winni- peg, follows the valley of the Saskatchewan to the west, but on approaching the ridges of the Eocky Mountains turns round to the south-west, and falls back again, about the 114th meridian, into the boundary line of the United States. It describes a sort of semicircle, and we may call it the " Bainhoio of Eupert's Land," — the fore- token of its future splendour and prosperity. The Fertile Belt contains about 65,000 square miles, or upwards of 40,000,000 acres, considerably more than England and Wales. But even this will require some generations fully to develope and people. We must again, for immediate purposes, reduce om^selves to a smaller amount of land. We come at last to a manageable area — to certain portions of the Fertile Belt which have been minutely explored and surveyed by Professor Hind, one of the Canadian Commissioners in 1858, and described by him as extending to about 22,000,000 acres, — being larger than Ireland — land of the first quality in the world for agricultural and grazing uses, ready waiting for the plough and spade, and for myriads of sheep and cattle. In my subsequent remarks on land, I must always be understood, unless otherwise expressed, as referring not to the all but illimitable spaces of Eupert's Land, with which posterity must be left to deal, but to this restricted area of first-class land, 22,000,000 acres, THE TERRITORY. 7 which even the present generation may see, are ahnost sure to see, converted into the abodes of industry and plenty, waving with grain and white with flocks, covered with large and thriving towns, and filled with the stir and sound of (I hope) an active, bold and educated, a free and sound-hearted population. The climate of the Fertile Belt is much finer than the eastern or Atlantic side of the Territory. The Winni- peg Basin in fact, taking the whole year together, is more genial than Canada, and many of the eastern States of America. It is very happily situated for the benignant operation of atmospheric influences. From the south come up the warm currents of the Gulf of Mexico, which, gliding over the low water-shed of the Mississippi, continue to drop fatness in the vallies of the Red River and Winnipeg, to the very mouth of the Sas- katchewan. On the west again the country is equally favoured by what we, in our ignorance of first causes, call a freak of Nature. A great dip or depression takes place in the Rocky Mountains just at the boundary line (the 49th parallel), and through this hollow pass, scooped out by Nature, pour the balmy and fostering gales of the Pacific, which circulate all over the prairies and float down the Saskatchewan, at the mouth of which they meet and mingle with the southern currents, already mentioned, coming up from the Mississippi. Both these radiations of tropical heat, the southern and the western, from time to time encounter the pre- vailing northern winds, which descend keen and fierce from the caverns of perpetual ice ; and being chilled by the contact, condense into heavy clouds, and precipitate themselves, sometimes in torrents of rain, sometimes in light and refreshing showers, over the whole regions which compose the Winnipeg Basin. Hence the mois- 8 THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY. tiire and teeming vegetation which characterise the whole of this country, and, notwithstanding the severity of its winter, the length, the warmth^ the prolificness, the beauty of its summers. Its summer isothermal passes through the Azores and the centre of France. The country produces almost every crop and every plant which belong to the Temperate zone, and that with a fulness, fineness, and luxuriance which few of our northern kingdoms can equal. Besides the richness of its vegetable growth, the whole Territory is no doubt amply stored with minerals. But I do not dwell upon this, because our present object is more particularly to bring out its capability for agricultural settlement ; and as there has been nothing like a mineral survey made, only scattered and super- ficial observations, our information on that branch of its resources remains meagre and indefinite. However, I may as well notice in passing, that traces of mineral have been perceived almost everywhere. Iron and copper in the Granite region, and gold has lately been discovered on the American side, to the west of Lake Superior, and no doubt will soon be tiaced in ours. Limestone on the Eed Eiver. Salt springs all through the prairies. Coal near the Couteau-ground on the frontier. Iron and coal on the Saskatchewan, and now also the cry of gold on the Saskatchewan is begin- ning to be raised. Rupert's Land has the golden domains of British Columbia, the mineral wealth and maritime capabilities of Vancouver's Island, immediately on its west. It has a brotherhood of hardy and thriving British provinces, Canada taking the lead, and the means of continuous water communication with the Atlantic on the east. On the south it has the young swarming hives of THE TERRITORY. 9 American States, with the broad bosom of the Mississippi inviting commerce, with access to the network of rail- ways now converging upon Minnesota. It stands almost midway between the toiling, hard-working, money- making, and money-spending nations of Em'ope, and the ancient civilizations, the rare and highly coveted treasures of the East, and midway also to the new-born and richly productive continents and islands of the South Pacific. The time is perhaps not far distant when, by this Territory being opened up, the British traveller, or British merchandise, may pass from London to Canton, to Nangasaki, to Auckland, to Sydney, or make the return, without ever quitting British soil, or only quit- ting it for the great ocean, the free common pathw^ay of all nations. The Red River Settlement is the one solitaiy little colony in all this Territory, now half a century old, 10,000 strong, with its Selkirk town, named after its founder (of whom more anon), baptized in blood, cradled in the blast — the child of scorn, neglect, ad- versity ; yet struggling into manhood, full of free bold life, growing into a settled community, with smiling farms, well-filled shops, steamers plying upon the river, its little ''Nor'-wester" newspaper, racy of the soil, schools that would put many of our own to shame, and churches where every variety of worshippers offer up their prayers as their own soul dictates, with no one to make them afraid. The Prairies undulating west and north-west of the Red River can be easily tra- versed in all directions with waggons or on horseback. The rivers roll almost without interruption for thou- sands of miles, and capable of being navigated, fr'om the Canadian Lakes and the head-waters of the Missis- sippi into the very shadows of the Rocky Mountains. In 10 THE Hudson's bay company. time the Iron Highway from our own country to China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and for that part to India, will span the Fertile Belt — the only practicable I'oute, it is now believed, across the American continent to join the Atlantic and Pacific. A new Empire will burst from the soil, which now knows only the feet of wandering Indians and the tramp of long herds of buffalo. 11. The Title. In the 16th and 17th centuries all the famous naviga- tors and discoverers were bending their sails to the West, over the Atlantic main, to find there the gateway into India, and that East which had long haunted every mind with dreams of almost unearthly wealth and gorgeousness. Seeking a land of fable, they found what has turned out to be a land of the most glorious reality — the Continent of America. All the great powers of Europe soon filled its Atlantic sea-board, for beyond the sea-board, into the unknown forests and wildernesses, they could scarcely be said for many ages to penetrate. Spain took possession of South America and of Florida. England had all the intervening country from Florida to Canada ; and Canada was held by the French. There still remained a wide territory to the north of Canada. That was entered m 1610 by Henry Hudson, who gave his name to the famous Bay, and who took possession of the territory in the name of the Crown of England. For many years no regard was paid to this extreme northern part of the continent. People were doubtless deterred from visiting it by its supposed Arctic and dismal character. At length a body of merchants and adventurers, under the patronage of Prince Eupert, second cousin of Charles II. directed some expeditions THE TITLE. 11 into that quarter ; and being impressed with its resources, and with the notion that they would find in that di- rection a North-west passage to the Pacific, they applied for and obtained a Charter from the Crown in 1670, constituting them into the Hudsoris Bay Company, This is the title by which we still hold our possessions and rights. AVith the Charter most of the shareholders have lately become familiar, and I shall run very rapidly over its leading provisions. 1st. There are the usual incorporating powers to carry out the purposes of the Charter. 2nd. Powers of management and direction, but of a wonderfully liberal and popular character, throwing the whole real power into the hands of the shareholders, without proxies, only those personally present at the Court Meetings. 3rd. The grant of exclusive trade, not in furs only (which in fact are not specified), but in all kinds of trade by land or water, and in fisheries and mines. This clause declares, that the Territory shall be one of the British ''^plantations or colonies in America," and shall be called '' Eupert's Land." 4th. There is the grant of the absolute property of the Territory; ''the Governor and Company" being '' the true and absolute Igrds and proprietors of the same territory," holding in freehold of the royal manor of East Greenwich in Kent. Ex facie then as good, sure and indefeasible a title as any held by the Duke of Bedford, or the Marquis of AVestminster, or any other the most undoubted proprietor in the kingdom. A loose objection has been raised, that the title is un- certain, but there is no such uncertainty. When the grant is carefully anahsed, it is found, as Sir Samuel 12 THE Hudson's bay company. Eomillj and other eminent counsel pointed out long ago, to amount to a grant of all land, territory and other subjects loithin the water-shed of Hudsoris Bay, This is a perfectly good and clear description. A water- shed is quite capable of being accurately traced and laid down. According to my recollection of title- deeds, this of a water-shed is a common bounding description of the estates of very large proprietors. If there be any vagueness at any point of the water-shed, that vagueness is removed and cured by the com^se of possession that follows upon the title. This title has been the subject of critical dissection, and the subject of opinions of counsel for upwards of a hundred years, and by this time we should pretty well know what is the net result of all this keen and prac- tised scrutiny. I believe it comes to this : — (1) Almost all the jurists have agreed, that the title to the freehold is valid and mdisputable ; it is a perfect freehold title to the land. (2) They have almost equally agreed, that the grant of exclusive trade is invalid; that the Crown alone could make no such grant, and that it would have re- quired for its confirmation the sanction of Parliament. (3) Many jurists have also doubted the validity of the grant of general exclusive government and jurisdic- tion over the territory, and affirm that the Cro^vii could not^ without the concm-rence of Parliament, make over such a delegation of the public authority. At the same time they acknowledge that, although the Charter does not carry exclusive trade, yet the Company, as sole owners of the land, had a right to exclude trespassers, and thus might secure, in a different form, something like exclusive trade ; and that, although the Charter does not carry exclusive jurisdiction, yet THE TITLE. 13 tlie Company, as sole owners of tlie land, had a right to make and execute lawful bye-laws and regulations amongst their servants, agents, tenants and assignees, and thus might exercise, in a different form, something like exclusive jurisdiction. But in neither case, under the Charter, only as owners of the land. The freehold good— the monopoly bad — the jurisdic- tion more than doubtful — the Company therefore only legally incorporated to the effect of holding, disposing of, and managing the land — this comes to be about the result of the opinions of all the most eminent counsel for the last hundred years. It may here be noticed, that the Company has hitherto relied and acted on those grants of the Charter now held to be illegal — the exclusive trade and jurisdic- tion; and has made little or no use, has in fact ignored and carefully and purposely thrown aside, the alone grant which was legal — the freehold right to the land. The freehold of two-and-a-half millions of square miles ! No doubt this sounds to the ear prodigious — a freehold in a Continent nearly as large as Europe. This result could not be foreseen or contemplated by the original grantor and grantees, to whom the interior was enveloped in darkness. But the conveyance was a suffi- cient warrant; and time, events, and possession have swelled out and knit together this magnificent inheritance. The one sole estate of the kind now remainina^ in the world — a private Corporation, lord of two-and-a-half millions of square miles. But magnitude has no effect upon title. The vastness of an estate cannot weaken the force of the Charter. A good title is a good title, whether it be for a cottage or a continent. 14 THE Hudson's bay company, III. The History, I do not mean to go at large into this history, but only into so much of it as tends to illustrate — (1.) That the Hudson's Bay Company formerly were not unfavourable to settlements within their territory. (2.) That, though certain rivals and antagonists from an early period, and though at a later period certain Canadian partisans, and latterly the Canadian Govern- ment, have kept up a running fire of cavils against the Company's title, they have either been defeated, or have failed, and have positively refused, when opportunity was given to them, and when they were challenged to the combat, to raise and try the question of the Company's Charter. (3.) That the Imperial Government have always re- spected and supported our title, have on all occasions declared that they have no ground to challenge it, and have always made it a condition of any diplomatic negotiation about a transfer of the possession of Rupert's Land, that arrangements should first of all be come to with the Hudson's Bay Company. 1670. For many years, after taking possession under the Charter, the Company do not seem to have pushed their establishments much beyond the shores of Hudson's Bay; but the natives came down from all parts of the interior, and brought skins and furs and similar articles, re- ceiving in exchange the various goods which they required. The natives were in fact the Company's hunters and trappers, acting in their employment ; and such use and occupation by the natives on their account THE HISTORY. 15 was really the possession of the territory by tlie Com- pany — the only kind of possession of which it was then susceptible; for agricultural or any other civilized mode of settlement was at that distant period entirely out of the question. It is quite true, that at this time the boundary be- tween Rupert's Land and the French colony of Canada, was not precisely fixed, nor has it ever been precisely fixed. But this is not peculiar to Eupert's Land. There are few neighbouring countries in the world that have their boundary-lines absolutely and exactly settled ; there are almost always some disputed points, some questions of rectification. The Company have offered over and over again to concur with Canada in submit- ting the question of boundary to any competent court, or to arbitration ; but the Canadians on one pretence and another have always held back, or refiised. It has been their game apparently to fight in the shadow, to fish in troubled water ; and by stirring up doubts and uncertainties, and never bringing them to a solution, either to frighten the Company into some rash compro- mise, or to mislead the British Government to aid and abet them in their hollow pretensions and unjust designs. Hitherto they have been foiled : — and so they will be, so long as the (Company have manliness, and the British Government a sense of justice — which I hope will be for ever. The French in Canada had an evil eye against this new-arrived Company of British adventurers, who were planting themselves so firm on the northern teiTitory. Taking advantage of the unfixed state of the boundaries, they not only roved and hunted over the whole territory without regard to boundary, but, insolent in their mili- tary force against a few comparatively defenceless Ifj THE Hudson's bay company. traders, they frequently marauded to the very shores of Hudson's Bay, and burned down, plundered and spoiled the forts and factories of the Company. In a few years upwards of £120,000 worth of the Company's property was thus destroyed ; but somehow they flou- rished bravely notwithstanding, commonly dividing 50 per cent., and often trebling their capital without the shareholders paying any subscription. I notice these old maraudings of the Canadian French, because it is very much on these that the later Canadians have endeavoured to fabricate some kind of claim to a great part, if not the whole of the Hudson's Bay Territory. A respectable origin certainly, for a claim of proprietorship ! as if somebody were to claim an estate in Norfolk, because his grandfather and great- grandfather long ago used to poach there, and shoot the partridges and pheasants, and occasionally a trouble- some gamekeeper who came out to prevent them. In these poachings and maraudings there was not a vestige of legality, and no legal right could accrue to any one from such unwarranted and predatory incursions. 1748. The first recorded attempt, so far as I have seen, was made this year to challenge the validity of the Company's Charter, and have it declared void. This was by a Petition to the Crown on the part of certain '' Subscribers for finding out a passage to the Western and Southern Oceans of America," praying for incorporation, and for possession in fact of the same territories as were contained in the Hudson's Bay Charter. The latter Company of course opposed them. The petition was referred to the Privy Council, and was again by them referred to the attorney and solicitor- THE HISTORY. 17 general of the day, Sir Dudley Ryder, and William Murray, afterwards the celebrated Lord Mansfield, who heard counsel both for the Petitioners and for the Hudson's Bay Company. Their Report, dated 10th August 1748, sets forth — " The Petitioners insisted on two general things, that the Company's Charter was either void in its original creation, or became forfeited by the Company's conduct under it." * * * * " As to the first, the Petitioners endeavoured to show that the grant of the country and territories included in the Company's Charter was void for the uncertainty of its extent, being bounded by no limits of mountains, rivers, seas, latitude or longitude ; and that the grant of tlie exclusive trade within such limits as these were, was a monopoly, and void on that account. " With respect to both these, considerhig how long the Company have enjoyed and acted under this Charter ivithout interruption or encroachment, we cannot think it advisable for his Majesty to make any express or implied declaration against the validity of it till there has been some judgment of a Court of Justice to warrant it." * * * # ** As to the supposed forfeiture of the Company's Charter by nonuser or abuser, the charge upon that head is of several sorts, viz. that they have not discovered, nor sufficiently attempted to discover the North- west passage into the South Seas or Western Ocean ; that they have not extended their settlements through the limits of their Charter ; tliat they have designedly confined their trade to a very narrow compass ; and have for that purpose abused the Indians, neglected their own forts, ill-treated their own servants, and encouraged the French. "But on consideration of all the evidence laid before us by many affidavits on both sides we think these charges are either not sufficiently supported in point of fact, or in a great measure accounted for from the nature or circumstances of the case." The Crown acted upon and confirmed this Report ; the Petition was refused, and the Company left in undis- turbed enjoyment of their property and rights. By this solemn State-proceeding the Crown ac- knowledged — a. That the Hudson's Bay Company had then^ for 78 years (from 1G70 to 1748), possessed the territory " witliout interruption or encroachment.'" Contrary to the allegations of recent writers, having no such means of ancient knowledge, venting guesses for facts, tliat the possession of the Company was interrupted, encroached upon, and defeated from the very beginning. (J 18 THE Hudson's bay company. h. That, even if the extent of the Charter was origm- ally uncertam as to limits, it was now rendered certain, and the limits legally defined, by long and uninterrupted possession. c. That (so far differing I admit from a later Opinion, to which I shall afterwards advert,) the same lengthened possession had confirmed and validated the grant of exclusive trade. cZ. That, under the conditions in which they have been placed, the Company had not lost right to any portions of their territory in consequence of their not fully oc- cupying or using them. e. That they had not given up to the Canadian French, or been legally deprived by them of any portion of territory belonging to the Company under the Charter. 1763. The French now made a total surrender of Canada to the British, so there was no longer any conflict of government. The whole American continent became British from the Arctic ocean to Florida ; and Canada, equally with Eupert's Land, was a colony or province subject to the British Crown. 1783. For many years, however, after the surrender of Canada, multitudes of the inhabitants continued, after the old French fashion, to roam and hunt and maraud over the North and North-west territories, without any distinction whether the territory was Canadian, or belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. These poach- ings took a head in 1783, when the North- West Com- pany of Canada was formed, chiefly as a fur-tradhig Company ; and its adventurous spirits at once flung THE HISTORY. 19 themselves broad- cast into the territory, in defiance of the Hudson's Bay Company, hmiting and trading up to the Bay itself, and along the western prairies and river- courses, over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. Such a daring and formidable competition, instead of cowing, roused up the Hudson's Bay Company to equal deter- mination. They came down from their more northern retreats, encountered their rivals on the broad hunting grounds, and by stratagem and by force tried to expel them. The hunters on both sides became soldiers ; the Indian was called in with his tomahawk, as well as his bow and arrow ; murderous attacks, bloody battles, cruel massacres ensued ; and the herds of buffalo were grazing in safety, whilst the ^Yh.ite Men were reddening the prairie-grasses with each other's blood. 1812. In the midst of these scenes of violence, rapine, and carnage, one little ark of promise suddenly upheaved on the Bed Biver, — I mean in the formation, now more than half a century ago, of the first and still (with ex- ceptions too trifling to mention) the only settlement in Bupert's Land. This was the work of a man whose name has nearly sunk in the stream of Time, but will yet re-appear in its native strength and lustre. Thomas Earl of Selkirk, about forty years of age, in the prime of his life, in the noon-tide of his enthusiasm and benevo- lence. A Scottish nobleman, descended from the doughty Douglases of old, with much of the liard strong Avill of the old barons, but more of the liberal ideas and practical reforms of the modern statesman, bent upon spreading civilization, and elevating the masses of man- kind above want and misery. For the present I can c2 20 THE Hudson's bay company. only bow to his shade as it passes, and recognize in him the same majestic lineaments which mark his brother- heroes, the Smiths of Virginia, the Penns of Pennsyl- vania, the Baltimores of Maryland, who laid the fomid- ation-stones of American greatness and progress. He was less fortmiate than they, in the obscurity of his early theatre, the seeming failm^e of all his efforts, and in altogether wanting a " sacred poet" to commemorate his fame. By him was the first Eed Eiver Settlement founded ; by him was that settlement guarded for many years with paternal fondness and anxiety ; by him was it cherished as the sign of a new era, as the little root that would swell and spread, and become part of some future new empire of humanity. From some passages in his little work on " The British Fur Trade in North America," we infer that the Hudson's Bay Company at that time were well disposed and prepared to carry out a system of such settlements in their territory. Gazing at the infant settlement in 1816, with a father's pride, yet with a father's disappointment, and turning for relief, as all noble minds must, to the hopes of the future, he exclaims with prophetic glow : '* It is a very moderate calculation to say^ that if these regions icere occupied hy an industrious population^ they might afford ample means of subsistence to more than thirty millions of British subjects f 1821. The North- West Company meanwhile had abated none of their hostility against the Hudson's Bay, and amongst other attempts took Opinions from time to time of all distinguished counsel, to see whether they could not attack and overthrow the Charter. Edward Ellice, the (Joryplia-.us of the North-west, before he carried THE HISTORY. 21 the weight of his abilities and hifluence hito the service of the Hudson's Bay^ admitted long afterwards, before the Select Committee of 1857, (to which I shall pre- sently have occasion to allude,) that all those Opinions, though taken at the instance of the North-A¥est Com- pany, agreed more or less strongly, that the Hudson's Bay Charter was a good conveyance of the freehold; though many cast doubt upon the exclusive trade and government. The North- West Company, with all their money and all their animosity, never dared to raise in any tribunal the question of the validity of the Hudson's Bay Charter. After long-continued, bitter and sanguinary conflicts, the two Companies, having exhausted each other's ex- chequer, became sobered by poverty, and like the modem Railway companies, thought of uniting when their quar- rels had reduced them both nearly to beggary. They amalgamated in 1821, under the name of the Hudson's Bay Company, and under the wing of the Charter. The British Government, as a dowry to the impoverish- ed couple, presented them with a license of exclusive trade over the whole Indian territory west of Eupert's Land, over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, in- cluding what has since been constituted into the colony of British Columbia. This license was terminable in 21 years, but in 1838 was renewed, again terminable in 21 years, or in the year 1859. The only occupation that the Canadians can pretend in Rupert's Land from 1783 was the occupation, such as it was, of the parties forming the North- AVest Com- pany, by themselves, their hunters, traders, and ser- vants. No other class of the Canadian people went into these remote and almost inaccessible i*egions. The rest of the Canadians — good, plain, slow, sturdy felloAvs 22 THE Hudson's bay company. — were plougliing and digging away on the St. Law- rence and Lake Erie, or bringing down lumber by St. Anne's. There was no Canadian occupation, except through the North- West Company. The benefit of that occupation therefore, whatever was the value of it, was brought, on the amalgamation of 1821, in aid of the Hudson's Bay Charter. Whether it was mere poaching, as I assert, or whether it had any legal effect, this use and occupation of Eupert's Land from 1783, passed, on the amalgamation of 1821, to the account of the Hudson's Bay Company and their Charter. And it cannot be pretended that since then, that is for the last 45 years, Canada has enjoyed or kept up any kind or shadow of occupation of Rupert's Land. The whole recent, authentic, verifiable possession that can count for any thing in law, has been by the Hudson's Bay Company. All the rest is old wives gossip — ante- diluvian stuff, an amusement for antiquarians, but despised by the practical lawyer. I shall have occasion to substantiate, from their own lips, that this much- paraded claim of Canadian right to Rupert's Land was a mere nightmare dream that came into their heads ahout the year 1857. 1848-9. The Company, freed from all rivalry, Canada and the United States still far off, the natives bowing to them as a ]\Ianitou, the settlers few, and all their own subjects, went on swimmingly for many years, almost reviving the old dividends. About 1848 the Imperial Government began to feel some anxiety about Vancouver's Island, lest it might fall a prey to the " annexing " Yankees ; and as the best measure for its preservation and development, THE HISTORY. 23 resolved to place it under the management of the Hud- son's Bay Company. This was accordingly done in 1849. A license of exclusive trade and management was granted for 10 years, terminable therefore in 1859 (the time of expiration of the similar license over the Indian Territory). This was the palmy time of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. Its possessions and powers were then at their zenith. They held Eupert's Land by the Eoyal Charter, which was perpetual. They held the whole Indian Territory to the Pacific by an exclusive license, which was terminable in 1859. They held Vancouver's Island by a similar license, also terminable in 1859. Three different possessions by three different titles. The Com- pany is believed at this time to have had under its sole sway about 4,000,000 square miles —a dominion larger than the whole of Europe. But at the very time of the license over Vancouver's Island being granted. Parliament, in July 1849, had, under various influences, passed a resolution requesting the Government to '' ascertain the legality of the powers in respect to territory, trade, taxation, and government, which are, or recently have been, claimed or exercised by the Hudson's Bay Company, on the continent of North America, under the Charter." At this time the inhabitants of Red River, who professed to have, and probably had, many causes of complaint against the Company, appeared publicly against them, in the persons of Mr. Isbister and Mr. M'Loughlin, natives or residents of the Red River. The Colonial Minister, Earl Grey, as the Government did in 1784, submitted the question to the attorney and solicitor-general. Sir John Jervis and Sir John Romilly ; and these learned gentlemen, offi- cially at the head of their profession, and undoubtedly 24 THE Hudson's bay company. able lawyers, and under the most serious responsibility to Parliament and to the Government, returned the follow- ing Opinion. "Having regard to the powers in respect of territory, trade, taxation, and government claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company in the statements furnished to your Lordship by the Chairman of tliat Company, we are of opinion that the rights so claimed hy the Company do properly belong to them. Upon this subject we entertain no doi(.ht." The learned gentlemen then added — " But as it will be more satisfactory to the complainants against the Company, to the promotors of the discussion in the House of Commons, and possibly to the Company themselves, if the questions are publicly urged and solemnly decided, we humbly advise your Lordship to refer these questions to a competent tribunal for consideration and decision, and to inform Mr. Isbister that he may appear as complainant, and the Com- pany that they may be heard as respondents upon the argument." They then suggest what ought to be the particular form of legal proceeding. The Government, with the concurrence of the Hudson's Bay Company, put it to Mr. Isbister and Mr. M'Loughlin, if they would adopt the course pointed out, and appear as complainants in such suit, so as to try the legality of tlie powers claimed by the Company under their Charter. Both these gentlemen refused, and upon a ground which I must characterise as disingenuous and irrelevant, a ground which was afterwards repeated as a cuckoo-song by other parties who in course of time came forward to attack the title. The ground was shortly this : — that the inhabitants of the Red Eiver, through their representatives, were not called upon to raise the action against the Charter ; that the duty of doing this devolved upon the Imperial Government. It is a very invidious, a very rare and extreme measure, for a lord to attack the title of his own vassal — to tear up the charter which he has granted under his OAvn hand and seal. Still a case may be supposed, and indeed has sometimes happened, where the lord has so raised action against his own vassal's title. But in such a case he has been THE HISTORY. 25 instructed by his responsible advisers, that the title is manifestly and flagrantly bad ; and also that his interests are prejudiced by it. But in the present instance, the Crown was advised, (as it had been in 1748, but this time in far more strong and unqualified language), that ex facie the Charter was good and indisputable; that the Crown had no cause or excuse to impugn it. Under such advice the Crown could not take action, without the most glaring injustice, partiality and inconsistency. It remained then for the objectors to take the initiative; and if they refused, the matter was at an end. This was the conclusion to which the Government came, and which was forcibly and tersely expressed in the closing letter of the Colonial Minister. '•'• Lord Grey having on behalf of Her Ma- jesty's Government, adopted the most effectual means open to him for answering the requirements of the Address, has been obliged, in the absence of any parties prepared to contest the rights claimed by the Company, to assume the opinion of the Law- Officers of the Crown in their favour to be well-founded." But you will naturally inquire — where were the Canadians in 1849 ? The Hudson's Bay Charter was assailed in the British Parliament ; it was being sub- jected to a rigorous investigation by the Britisli Govern- ment; and Mr. Isbister and Mr. ]\PLoughlin came dragging all tlie way from the Eed Eiver to do their best to blow it up. Where were the Canadians ? According to their modern pamphleteers, they — about three millions of people — had been for two hundred years robbed, plundered, abused, and oppressed by the handful of Hudson's Bay traders, had been kept out of their rights, and barred by some kind of witchcraft from entering and taking possession of the whole country to 26 THE Hudson's bay company. tlie Pacific. Here then, in 1849, was the time for fell revenge. Earl Grey was holding out the Charter for any body to come and tear it to pieces that could. Then where were the robbed, plundered, abused Cana- dians ? It must be confessed that they were fast asleep — in a state of dead unconsciousness as to their having any rights that had been stolen, any rights to claim or recover. In the Committee of 1857 (to which I am just about to pass in my narrative) Lord John Russell naturally puts this very question to the leading Canadian witness. Chief Justice Draper: — " Wlien the opinion of Lord Grey was known in Canada (that is in 1849), was there a disposition to acquiesce in the mode pointed out by Lord Grey ?" ''' T am not moare" — answers Cliief-Justice Draper — "that the matter toas in any ivay discussed or considered in Canada at that particular period : I do not think it tvas." Lord John Russell (somewhat surprised no doubt at this naive confession on the part of the deeply injured Canadians) : — " ITas it been since?'' '* I cannot say that it has : I am not ahle to answer the question." Another authority, almost equal to Chief-Justice Draper, John Ross, member of the Canadian Parliament, confirmed this extraordinary case of sleep. Mr. Labouchere. — " Save those questions only recently occiqried public attention in Canada, or have they been discussed for some time there?" Answer. — " I think it was during the very last summer that the discussion first commenced upon the subject" — that is the summer of 1856. The Canadians, robbed of half a continent since 1670, fell fast asleep, like Rip Van Winkle, but drowsier than he, slept for 200 years ; then starting up and rubbing their eyes, raised an outcry that has echoed all over England : '' Where's our Red River gone ? and our Western Prairies? Where's our Saskatchewan? and who stole the Rocky Mountains ?" THE HISTORY. 27 Uncharitable people will conclude, that a clreadfiil robbery, which the victim could sleep over for 200 years, never had any existence but in his own diseased imagination. 1857—8. For seven years the Company seem to have moved on unmolested and prosperous, ruling and tradhig over their vast dominions. But as the time approached (1859), when their licenses over the Indian Territory and Vancouver's Island wouhl expire, attention was again drawn to their position and claims. The Cana- dians — or at least some who assumed to be their leaders — were now rubbing up their eyes, and working them- selves into a belief that the Company had robbed them of their rights for the last two hundred years, and that they were entitled to the whole continent. The Impe- rial Government was dropping into the conclusion that the time had arrived to form Vancouver's Island and the Indian Territory into British colonies. Out of this ferment of circumstances there again came up an agi- tation to inquire into the Hudson's Bay Company — which seems to be a periodical mania with a certain class of politicians. In February 1857, when ^Ir. Labouchere was Colonial Minister, a motion was carried in the House of Commons, '* that a Select Committee be appointed to consider the state of those British Possessions in North America which are under the administration of the Hudson's Bay Company, or over which they possess a license to trade." This was the most searching and unsparing inquiry that was ever made into the position of that or any other public company. I cannot, with my present limited object, and the short time at my command, enter into details; but I cannot help recording my conviction 28 THE HUDSON'^ BAY COMPANY. as I pass, that the Company came well out of the ordeal — as well as poor hmnan creatm*es and poor hmnan institutions can ever come out of any strict and merciless examination. The meeting of the Select Committee of 1857 was a great field-day for the opponents of the Company. It was attended by our old acquaintances of 1849 — Mr. Isbister and Mr. M'Loughlin, whose hostility time had rather embittered than abated. But a much more august personage appeared on the scene — Canada, almost in propria persona — '' The Honourable William Henry Draper, C.B., Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Upper Canada," and who had been commissioned by the Government of Upper Canada " to undertake the duty of coming to England for the purpose of watching the investigation." Not merely however of watching the investigation before the Committee, but also of bringing the question of the Company's Charter and whole rights before some competent tribunal. Being asked on the 28tli May, 1857, "Do you believe that the province of Canada would be disposed themselves to raise the question of the validity of the Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, either in whole or in part, before either the Judical Committee of the Privy Coun- cil^ or some other tribunal ? " he answers, '' I can best answer that question by stating that I have express in- structions and authority to retain counsel to represent the province, whenever in my judgment it is necessary." He adds, "If her Majesty's Government were broadly to say that Canada must appear before the Judical Committee of the Privy Council for the purpose of determining her boundaries, I apprehend that my instructions go the full length of enabling me to do so." Now then the battle closes in earnest, and must be THE HISTORY. 29 sliarply decided. No more skirmishing, but a stand-up fight between Canada and Hudson's Bay for tlie title to the North- West ! The Government, anxious that this vexed territorial question should be determined, but equally anxious, as every British Government of whatever party is, and ever will be, till our national character is debased, and our constitution subverted, that legality shall be paramount over every other consideration,— the Government, I say, again referred the matter, in June 1857, as the Govern- ments of 1748 and 1849 had done, to the responsible law-officers of the Crown. The attorney and solicitor-general at this time were Richard Bethell, now Lord Westburv, and Henry, now Judge Keating. I think there is no man in this meeting, or in this country, who has any intelligence in public affairs, any knowledge of the status of public men, but will agree that this age has not seen a greater jurist, a surer legal guide, than Richard Bethell. With a mind of rare combination, as acute as profound, with severe early training, and a comprehensive knowledge of all jurisprudence, with a largeness and equipoise of powers that always made him strike the true medium, with that innate wisdom which enabled him almost unerringly to prophesy legal results, the Opinion of Richard Bethell is the nearest thing we can have in weight and authority to an ultimate judgment of the House of Lords, or of the Privy Council. In this instance he was delivering his opinion, not as an ex-parte advocate, but as a responsible officer of the Crown, sworn to advise truly, for the guidance of the Government, on a matter raised by the House of Commons, and on which the brightest luminaries of the law for a lumdrcd years had spoken. He was called upon to advise, with all sources of information now thoroughly 30 THE Hudson's bay company. ransacked, with the American colonies on the watch, and the eyes of the jurists and politicians of both sides of the Atlantic upon him. I cannot pass cursorily over such an Opinion from such a man; I must give it nearly at full length. Anxious as I am to save time, I must claim some indulgence at this point; our Avhole case lies here; this is the highest authority on our title ; and on our title our whole future policy depends. Without making any preliminary cpiotations, the fol- lowing then is the true substance of the Opinion : — " The questtons of the validity and construction of the Hudson s Baif Company s Charter cannot he considered apart from the enjoyment that has been had under it during nearly two centuries, and the recognition made of the rights of the Company in various acts both of the Government and the Legislature. "Nothing could be more unjust, or more op^DOsed to tlie spirit of our law, than to try this Charter as a thing of yesterday, upon principles which might be deemed applicable to it if it had been granted within the last ten or twenty years. " These observations however must be considered as limited in their application to the territorial rights of the Company, under the Charter, and to the necessary incidents or consequences of the territorial ownership. Tliey do not extend to the monopoly of trade (save as territorial owner- ship justifies the exclusion of intruders), or to the right of an exclusive administration of justice." " In our opinion the Croion could not now with justice raise the question of the general validity of the Charter ; but . . . on every legal principle the Company s territorial otvnership of the lands granted, and the rights Tiecessarily incidental thereto (as, for example, the_ right of excluding from their territory persons acting in violation of their regulations), ought to be deemed to he valid. "But with respect to any rights of government, taxation, exclusive ad- ministration of justice, or exclusive trade, otherwise than as a consequence of the right of ownership of the land, such rights could not be legally insisted on by the Hudson s Bay Company as having been legally granted to them bif the Crown." •^ ***** * " The Company has, under the Charter, power to make ordinances (whicli would be in the nature of bye-laws) for the government of the persons em- ployed by thorn, and also power to exercise jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal ; but no ordinance would be valid that was contrary to the common law, nor could the Company insist on its right to administer justice as against the Crown's prerogative right to establish Courts of civil and criminal justice within the territory. # * * * * * . "The remaining subject of consideration is the question of the geogra- phical extent of the territory granted by the Charter, and whether its THE HISTORY. 31 boundaries can in any and what manner be ascertained. In the case of grants of conslderahle age, such as this Chartet\iohen the ivords, «> 20 >> J> on Allotment. 5 >j 25 j> J> on 1st Sept., 1863. 5 jj 25 5> >> on 2nd Nov., 1863. 5 j> 25 JJ >> on 1st January, 1864. PROSPECTUS^ 1863. 75 THE DIRECTORS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY ARE AS UNDER :— The Right Honourable Sir EDMUND HEAD, Bart., K.C.B. (Late Governor General of Canada), Governor. CURTIS MIRANDA LAMPSON, Esq. (C. M. Lampson and Co.), Deputy Governm\ EDEN COL VILE, Esq., Hudson's Bay House, Fenchurch Street. GEORGE LYALL, M.P., Headley Park, SuiTcy. DANIEL MEINERTZHAGEN, Esq., (F. Huth and Co.) JAMES STEWART HODGSON, Esq., (Finlay, Hodgson and Co.) JOHN HENRY WILLIAM SCHRODER, Esq., (J. H. Schroder and Co.) RICHARD POTTER, Esq., Standish House, Gloucestershire. The Hudson's Bay Company were incorporated under a Eoyal Charter granted by King Charles II. in 1670, by the name of " The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," and, by the Charter, a vast tract of territory was vested in the Company, together with the sole right of trade and commerce, and all " mines royal," as well then discovered as not dis- covered, within the said territory. The operations of the Company, which, with slight exceptions, have been hitherto exclusively of a trading character, have been prosecuted from the date of the Charter to the present day. It has become evident that the time has arrived when those opera- tions must be extended, and the immense resources of the Company's Territory, lying as it does between Canada and British Columbia, should be developed in accordance with the industrial spirit of the age, and the rapid advancement which colonization has made in the countries adjacent to the Hudson Bay territories. The average net annual profits of the Company, (after setting aside 40 per cent, of them as remuneration to the factors and ser- vants at the Company's posts and stations) for the ten years ending the 31st May, 1862, amount to £81,000, or upwards of 4 per cent. on the present nominal capital of £2,000,000. A portion only of this income has been distributed as dividend, while the remainder is represented in the assets and balances. The assets of the Company, in which the Subscribers will be entitled to an interest correspond- ing to the amount of their Subscription, will consist of goods in the interior, on shipboard, and other stock in trade, including shipping, business premises, and other buildings necessary for carrying on the fur trade, in addition to which there will be funds immediately available for the proposed extended operations of the Company, 76 PROSPECTUS, 1863. derived partly from the cash balance of the Hudson's Bay Company, and partly from the new issue of Stock, and amounting in the whole to a sum not less than £370,000. The Company's territory, embraces an estimated area of more than 1,400,000 square miles, or eight hundred and ninety-six millions of acres, of which a large area, on the Southern Frontier, is well adapted for European colonization. The soil of this portion of the territory is fertile, producing, in abundance, wheat, and other cereal crops, and is capable of sustaining a numerous population. It contains 1,400 miles of navigable lakes and rivers, running, for the greater part, east and west, which constitute an important feature in plans for establishil3g the means of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, across the Continent of British North America, as well as for immediate settlement in the intervening country. The territory is, moreover, rich in mineral wealth, including coal, lead, and iron. In addition to its Chartered territory, the Company possesses the following valuable landed property : Several plots of land in British Columbia, occupying most favourable sites at the mouths of rivers, the titles to which have been confirmed by Her Majesty's Govern- ment ; farms, building sites in Vancouver's Island ; and in Canada ten square miles at Lacloche, on Lake Huron, and tracts of land at fourteen other places. The trading operations of the Company are chiefly carried on in the fur-bearing and northern portion of the territory, where the climate is too severe for European colonization. These trading operations will be actively continued, and as far as possible extended, whilst the management will be judiciously economized. Consistently with these objects, the outlying estates and valuable farms will be realised where the land is not required for the use of the Company — the southern district will be opened to European colo- nization, under a liberal and systematic scheme of land settlement. Possessing a staff* of factors and officers who are distributed in small centres of civilisation over the territory, the Company can, without creating new and costly establishments, inaugurate the new policy of colonization, and at the same time dispose of mining grants. With the view of providing the means of telegraphic and postal communication between Canada and British Columbia, across the Company's territory, and thereby of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by an exclusively British route, negociations have PROSPECTUS, 1863. 77 been pending for some time past between certain parties and Her Majesty's Government and the representatives of the Government of Canada, and preliminary arrangements for tlie accomplishment of these objects have been made through Her Majesty's Government (subject to the final sanction of the Colonies), based upon a 5 per cent, guarantee from the Government of Canada, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island. In further aid of these Imperial objects, Her Majesty's Government have signified their intention to make grants of land to the extent of about 1,000,000 acres, in portions of the Crown territory traversed by the proposed telegraphic line. One of the first objects of the Company will be to examine the facilities and consider the best means for carrying out this most important work, and there can be little doubt that it will be successfully executed either by the Hudson's Bay Company itself, or with their aid and sanction. Eor this, as well as for the other proposed objects, Mr. Edward "Watkin, who is now in Canada, will be commissioned, with other gentlemen specially qualified for the duty, to visit the Red Eiver and southern districts, to consult the Officers of the Company there, and to report as to the best and safest means of giving effect to the con- templated operations. Applications for allotments of Certificates of Stock of £20 each, to be made to the Inteenational Eii«"ancial Society Limited, at their Offices, 54, Old Broad Street, E.C. A preference in allotment will be given to parties hitherto holders of Stock in the Hudson's Bay Company, and to the Shareholders in the International Einancial Society Limited. NOTICE. Shareholdees are requested to sign and fill up the following Letter, and return it at their earliest possible convenience. Lionel N. Bonae, Esq. 53, Welhech Street, London, W. (Date.) SlE, I approve of the Shareholders of the Hudson's Bay Company uniting at the present time into an Association for the protection of their interests and the improvement of their property. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, Signature Address JVb. of Shares held_ i-fc N 10 itT^ v^ NO V^ ,S THE HUDSOl^'S BAY COMPANY, ITS il POSITIOI^ AND PROSPECTS. THE SUBSTANCE OF AN ADDRESS, DELIVEEED AT A MEETING OP THE SHAREHOLDERS, IN THE LONDON TAVERN, ON THE 24tH JANUARY, 1866. BY JAMES DODDS. mtti) a fHap. ^ SECOND THOUSAXD. LONDON : EDWAKU STANFORD, 6, CHARING CROSS S.W. AND A. H. BAILY & CO. 3, ROYAL iTXCHANGE BUILDINGS, E.G. 1866. kcs