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  [Illustration: LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL
   _Present Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company_.]


THE GREAT COMPANY

Being a History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-Adventurers
Trading into Hudson's Bay

by

BECKLES WILLSON

With an Introduction by
Lord Strathcona And Mount Royal
Present Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company

With Original Drawings by Arthur Heming
and
Maps, Plans and Illustrations







New York
Dodd, Mead & Company
1900

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one
thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, by the Copp, Clark Company,
Limited, Toronto, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.




     TO
     THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
     SIR WILFRID LAURIER, G.C.M.G.,

     TO WHOSE GENEROUS SUGGESTION AND CONTINUED
     ENCOURAGEMENT IS SO LARGELY DUE THE
     COMPILATION OF THESE ANNALS.




PREFACE.


Praiseworthy as the task is of unifying the scattered elements of our
Canadian story, yet it will hardly be maintained that such historical
studies ought not to be preceded by others of a more elementary
character. Herein, then, are chronicled the annals of an institution
coherent and compact--an isolated unit.

The Hudson's Bay Company witnessed the French dominion in Northamerica
rise to its extreme height, decline and disappear; it saw new colonies
planted by Britain; it saw them quarrel with the parent State, and
themselves become transformed into States. Wars came and
passed--European Powers on this continent waxed and waned, rose and
faded away; remote forests were invaded by loyal subjects who erected
the wilderness into opulent provinces. Change, unceasing, never-ending
change, has marked the history of this hemisphere of ours; yet there
is one force, one institution, which survived nearly all conditions
and all _régimes_. For two full centuries the Hudson's Bay Company
existed, unshorn of its greatness, and endures still--the one enduring
pillar in the New World mansion.

In pondering the early records of the Company, one truth will hardly
escape observation. It did not go forth amongst the savages with the
Bible in its hand. Elsewhere, an old axiom, and true--first the
missionary, then the soldier, then the trader. In the case of the
Company, this order has been reversed. The French associations in
Canada for the collection and sale of furs were preceded by the
Jesuits--brave, fearless, self-denying--whose deeds form the theme of
some of Parkman's most thrilling pages.

A few years since, in the solitudes of the West, two European tourists
were struck by the frequency with which they encountered a certain
mystic legend. Eager to solve its meaning, they addressed a half-breed
lounger at a small station on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

"Tell us, my friend," they said, "what those three letters yonder
signify. Wherever we travel in this country we encounter 'H. B. C.' We
have seen the legend sewn on the garments of Indians; we have seen it
flying from rude forts; it has been painted on canoes; it is inscribed
on bales and boxes. What does 'H. B. C.' mean?"

"That's _the Company_," returned the native grimly, "Here Before
Christ."

Might not the first missionary who, in 1818, reached York Factory
contemplate his vast cure, and say: Here, bartering, civilizing,
judging, corrupting, revelling, slaying, marching through the
trackless forest, making laws and having dominion over a million
souls--_here before Christ!_

It is probable a day is at hand when all this area will be dotted with
farms, villages and cities, a time when its forests will be uprooted
and the plains of Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory tilled by
the husbandman, its hills and valleys exploited by the miner; yet,
certain spots in this vast region must ever bear testimony to the
hunter of furs. Remote, solitary, often hungry and not seldom
frozen--the indomitable servant of the Great Fur Company lived here
his life and gave his name to mountain, lake and river.

Whatsoever destiny has in store for this country, it can never
completely obliterate either the reverence and admiration we have for
brave souls, or those deeper feelings which repose in the bosoms of so
many Canadian men and women whose forefathers lent their arms and
their brains to the fur-trade. The beaver and the marten, the fox and
the mink, may soon be as extinct as the bison, or no more numerous
than the fox and the beaver are to-day in the British Isles; but this
volume, imperfect as it is, may serve as a reminder that their
forbears long occupied the minds and energies of a hardy race of men,
the like of whose patience, bravery and simple honest careers may not
soon again be seen.

He who would seek in these pages the native romance, the vivid colour,
the absorbing drama of the Great North-West, will seek, I fear, in
vain. My concern has been chiefly with the larger annals of the
Hudson's Bay Company, its history proper, which until now has not been
compiled.

     TORONTO, 27th June, 1899.




INTRODUCTION.


Mr. Beckles Willson has asked me to write a short introduction for his
forthcoming book on the Hudson's Bay Company, and it gives me great
pleasure to comply with his request.

It is gratifying to know that this work has been undertaken by a young
Canadian, who has for some years had a laudable desire to write the
history of what he appropriately calls "The Great Company," with whose
operations the development of the Western parts of Canada has been so
closely connected.

The history of the Company during the two centuries of its existence
must bring out prominently several matters which are apt now to be
lightly remembered. I refer to the immense area of country--more than
half as large as Europe--over which its control eventually extended,
the explorations conducted under its auspices, the successful
endeavours, in spite of strenuous opposition, to retain its hold upon
what it regarded as its territory, its friendly relations with the
Indians, and, finally, the manner in which its work prepared the way
for the incorporation of the "illimitable wilderness" within the
Dominion.

It is not too much to say that the fur-traders were the pioneers of
civilization in the far West. They undertook the most fatiguing
journeys with the greatest pluck and fortitude; they explored the
country and kept it in trust for Great Britain. These fur-traders
penetrated to the Rocky Mountains, and beyond, into what is now known
as British Columbia, and even to the far north and northwest, in
connection with the extension of trade, and the establishment of the
famous "H. B. C." posts and forts, which were the leading features of
the maps of the country until comparatively recent times. The names of
many of these early explorers are perpetuated in its rivers and
lakes; and many important Arctic discoveries are associated with the
names of officers of the Company, such as Hearne, Dease, and Simpson,
and, in later times, Dr. John Rae.

The American and Russian Companies which were seeking trade on the
Pacific Coast, in the early days of the present century, were not able
to withstand the activity and enterprise of their British rivals, but
for whose discoveries and work even British Columbia might not have
remained British territory. For many years the only civilized
occupants of both banks of the Columbia River were the fur-traders,
and it is not their fault that the region between it and the
international boundary does not now belong to Canada. Alaska was also
leased by the Hudson's Bay Company from Russia, and one cannot help
thinking that if that country had been secured by Great Britain, we
should probably never have heard of the Boundary Question, or of
disputes over the Seal Fisheries. However, these things must be
accepted as they are; but it will not, in any case, be questioned that
the work of the Company prepared the way for the consolidation of the
Dominion of Canada, enabling it to extend its limits from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, and from the international boundary to the far north.

The principal business of the Company in the early days was, of
course, the purchasing of furs from the Indians, in exchange for arms,
ammunition, clothes and other commodities imported from the United
Kingdom. Naturally, therefore, the prosperity of the Company depended
largely upon good relations being maintained with the Indians. The
white man trusted the Indians, and the Indians trusted the white man.
This mutual confidence, and the friendly relations which were the
result, made the transfer of the territory to Canada comparatively
easy when the time for the surrender came. It is interesting to note
also, that while intent upon trading with the Indians, the Company did
not neglect the spread of civilizing influences among them. The result
of their wise policy is seen in the relations that have happily
existed since 1870 between the Government and the Indians. There has
been none of the difficulties which gave rise to so many disasters in
the western parts of the United States. Even in the half-breed
disturbance in 1869-70, and in that of 1885, the Indians (with very
few exceptions) could not be induced to take arms against the forces
of law and order.

Although the Red River settlement was inaugurated and carried out
under its auspices, it has been stated, and in terms of reproach, that
the Company did not encourage settlement or colonization. The
statement may have an element of truth in it, but the condition of the
country at the time must be borne in mind. Of course, the fur trade
and settlement could not go on side by side. On the other hand, until
the country was made accessible, colonization was not practicable.
Settlers could not reach it without the greatest difficulty, even for
many years after the transfer of the territory took place, or get
their produce away. Indeed, until the different Provinces of Canada
became federated, and were thus in a position to administer the
country and to provide it with the necessary means of communication,
the opening up of its resources was almost an impossibility. No single
province of Canada could have undertaken its administration or
development, and neither men nor money were available, locally, to
permit of its blossoming out separately as a Colony, or as a series of
Provinces.

The work of the Company is still being continued, although, of course,
under somewhat different conditions. The fur trade is quite as large
as ever it was, and the relations of the Company are as cordial as of
old with the Indians and other inhabitants in the districts remote
from settlement, in which this part of the business is largely carried
on. It has also adapted itself to the times, and is now one of the
leading sources of supplies to the settlers in Manitoba, the
North-West Territories, and British Columbia, and to the prospectors
and miners engaged in developing the resources of the Pacific
province. Besides, it has a very large stake in the North-West, in the
millions of acres of land handed over to it, according to agreement,
as the country is surveyed. In fact, it may be stated that the
Hudson's Bay Company is as inseparably bound up with the future of
Western Canada as it has been with its past.

There are, of course, many other things that might be mentioned in an
introduction of this kind, and there is room especially for an
extended reference to the great and wonderful changes that have been
apparent in Manitoba, the North-West Territories, and British
Columbia, since, in the natural order of things, those parts of Canada
passed out of the direct control of the Company. The subject is so
fascinating to me, having been connected with the Company for over
sixty years, that the tendency is to go on and on. But the different
details connected with it will doubtless be dealt with by Mr. Beckles
Willson himself much better than would be possible in the limited time
at my disposal, and I shall therefore content myself with stating, in
conclusion, that I congratulate the author on the work he has
undertaken, and trust that it will meet with the success it deserves.
It cannot fail to be regarded as an interesting contribution to the
history of Canada, and to show, what I firmly believe to be the case,
that the work of the Hudson's Bay Company was for the advantage of the
Empire.

  [Illustration: SIGNATURE OF LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL.]

     LONDON, June 23rd, 1899.




CONTENTS.


                                                                 PAGE.

     CHAPTER I.--1660-1667.

     Effect of the Restoration on Trade -- Adventurers at Whitehall --
     The East India Company Monopoly -- English Interest in North
     America -- Prince Rupert's Claims -- The Fur Trade of Canada --
     Aim of the Work.                                               17

     CHAPTER II.--1659-1666.

     Groseilliers and Radisson -- Their Peregrinations in the
     North-West -- They Return to Quebec and Lay their Scheme before
     the Governor -- Repulsed by him they Proceed to New England --
     And thence Sail for France, where they Endeavour to Interest M.
     Colbert.                                                       23

     CHAPTER III.--1667-1668.

     Prince Rupert -- His Character -- Serves through the Civil War
     -- His Naval Expedition in the West Indies -- Residence in
     France -- And ultimately in London -- He receives Groseilliers
     and introduces him to the King.                                35

     CHAPTER IV.--1668-1670.

     The Prince Visits the _Nonsuch_ -- Arrival in the Bay -- Previous
     Voyages of Exploration -- A Fort Commenced at Rupert's River --
     Gillam's Return -- Dealing with the Nodwayes -- Satisfaction of
     the Company -- A Royal Charter granted.                        44

     CHAPTER V.--1668-1670.

     Danger Apprehended to French Dominion -- Intendant Talon -- Fur
     Trade Extended Westward -- News of the English Expedition
     Reaches Quebec -- Sovereign Rights in Question -- English
     Priority Established.                                          52

     CHAPTER VI.--1671.

     First Public Sale at Garraway's -- Contemporary Prices of Fur
     -- The Poet Dryden -- Meetings of the Company -- Curiosity of
     the Town -- Aborigines on View.                                60

     CHAPTER VII.--1671-1673.

     Mission of the Père Albanel -- Apprehension at Fort Charles --
     Bailey's Distrust of Radisson -- Expedition to Moose River --
     Groseilliers and the Savages -- The Bushrangers Leave the
     Company's Service -- Arrival of Governor Lyddal.               69

     CHAPTER VIII.--1673-1682.

     Progress of the Company -- Confusion as to the Names and Number
     of the Tribes -- Radisson goes to Paris -- His Efforts to
     Obtain Support there, and from Prince Rupert, in England, Fail
     -- Arrival of M. de la Chesnaye -- With his help Radisson
     Secures Support -- And Sails for Quebec -- Thence Proceeds with
     Two Ships to Attack the English Ports in Hudson's Bay -- His
     Encounters with Gillam's Expedition from London, and his Son's,
     from New England.                                              80

     CHAPTER IX.--1682-1683.

     Death of Prince Rupert -- The Company's Difficulty in Procuring
     Proper Servants -- Radisson at Port Nelson -- The two Gillams
     -- Their Meeting -- Capture of the New England Party -- The
     First Scotchman in the Bay -- Governor Bridgar Carried off
     Prisoner -- Indian Visitors to the Fort -- Disasters to the
     Ships -- The French Burn the Island Fort -- Radisson's Harangue
     to the Indians -- Return to France.                            94

     CHAPTER X.--1684-1687.

     Hays writes to Lord Preston -- Godey sent to Radisson's
     lodgings -- La Barre's strenuous efforts -- Radisson Returns to
     the English -- He leaves for the Bay -- Meets his nephew,
     Chouart -- Fort Bourbon Surrendered to the Company --
     Radisson's dramatic Return to London.                         112

     CHAPTER XI.--1683-1686.

     Feigned Anger of Lewis -- He writes to La Barre -- Importance
     Attached to Indian Treaties -- Duluth's Zeal -- Gauthier de
     Comportier -- Denonville made Governor -- Capture of the
     _Merchant of Perpetuana_ -- Expedition of Troyes against the
     Company's Posts in the Bay -- Moose Fort Surrendered.         125

     CHAPTER XII.--1686-1689.

     The French Attack upon Fort Rupert -- Governor Sargeant
     Apprised -- Intrepidity of Nixon -- Capture of Fort Albany --
     Disaster to the _Churchill_ -- The Company Hears the ill News --
     Negotiations for Colonial Neutrality -- Destruction of New
     Severn Fort -- Loss of the _Hampshire_ -- The Revolution.     134

     CHAPTER XIII.--1689-1696.

     Company's Claims Mentioned in Declaration of War -- Parliament
     Grants Company's Application for Confirmation of its Charter --
     Implacability of the Felt-makers -- Fort Albany not a Success
     in the hands of the French -- Denonville urges an Attack upon
     Fort Nelson -- Lewis Despatches Tast with a Fleet to Canada --
     Iberville's Jealousy prevents its Sailing to the Bay --
     Governor Phipps Burns Fort Nelson -- Further Agitation on the
     part of the French to Possess the West Main -- Company Makes
     another Attempt to Regain Fort Albany -- Fort Nelson
     Surrendered to Iberville -- Its Re-conquest by the Company.   146

     CHAPTER XIV.--1696-1697.

     Imprisoned French Fur-Traders Reach Paris -- A Fleet under
     Iberville Despatched by Lewis to the Bay -- Company's four
     Ships precede them through the Straits -- Beginning of a Fierce
     Battle -- The _Hampshire_ Sinks -- Escape of the _Dering_ and
     capture of the _Hudson's Bay_ -- Dreadful Storm in the Bay --
     Losses of the Victors -- Landing of Iberville -- Operations
     against Fort Nelson -- Bailey Yields -- Evacuation by the
     English.                                                      158

     CHAPTER XV.--1698-1713.

     Petition Presented to Parliament Hostile to Company --
     Seventeenth Century Conditions of Trade -- _Coureurs de
     Bois_ -- Price of Peltries -- Standard of Trade Prescribed --
     Company's Conservatism -- Letters to Factors -- Character of
     the Early Governors -- Henry Kelsey -- York Factory under the
     French -- Massacre of Jérémie's Men -- Starvation amongst the
     Indians.                                                      169

     CHAPTER XVI.--1697-1712.

     Company Seriously Damaged by Loss of Port Nelson -- Send an
     Account of their Claims to Lords of Trade -- Definite Boundary
     Propositions of Trade -- Lewis anxious to Create Boundaries --
     Company look to Outbreak of War -- War of Spanish Succession
     Breaks Out -- Period of Adversity for the Company -- Employment
     of Orkneymen -- Attack on Fort Albany -- Desperate Condition of
     the French at York Fort -- Petition to Anne.                  187

     CHAPTER XVII.--1712-1720.

     Queen Anne Espouses the Cause of the Company -- Prior's View of
     its Wants -- Treaty of Utrecht -- Joy of the Adventurers --
     Petition for Act of Cession -- Not Pressed by the British
     Government -- Governor Knight Authorized to take Possession of
     Port Nelson -- "Smug Ancient Gentlemen" -- Commissioners to
     Ascertain Rights -- Their Meeting in Paris -- Matters Move
     Slowly -- Bladen and Pulteney return to England.              198

     CHAPTER XVIII.--1719-1727.

     The South Sea Bubble -- Nation Catches the Fever of Speculation
     -- Strong Temptation for the Company -- Pricking of the Bubble
     -- Narrow Escape of the Adventurers -- Knight and his
     Expedition -- Anxiety as to their Fate -- Certainty of their
     Loss -- Burnet's Scheme to Cripple the French -- It Forces them
     Westward into Rupert's Land.                                  208

     CHAPTER XIX.--1687-1712.

     Hudson's Bay Tribes Peaceful -- Effect of the Traders' Presence
     -- Depletion of Population -- The Crees and Assiniboines --
     Their Habits and Customs -- Their Numbers -- No Subordination
     Amongst Them -- Spirituous Liquors -- Effect of Intemperance
     upon the Indian.                                              217

     CHAPTER XX.--1685-1742.

     Errant Tribes of the Bay -- The Goose Hunt -- Assemblage at
     Lake Winnipeg -- Difficulties of the Voyage -- Arrival at the
     Fort -- Ceremony followed by Debauch -- Gifts to the Chief --
     He makes a Speech to the Governor -- Ceremony of the Pipe --
     Trading Begun.                                                230

     CHAPTER XXI.--1725-1742.

     System of Licenses re-adopted by the French -- Verandrye Sets
     Out for the Pacific -- His Son Slain -- Disappointments -- He
     reaches the Rockies -- Death of Verandrye -- Forts in Rupert's
     Land -- Peter the Great and the Hudson's Bay Company --
     Expeditions of Bering -- A North-West Passage -- Opposition of
     the Company to its Discovery -- Dobbs and Middleton --
     Ludicrous distrust of the Explorer -- An Anonymous Letter.    240

     CHAPTER XXII.--1744-1748.

     War again with France -- Company takes Measures to Defend its
     Forts and Property -- "Keep Your Guns Loaded" -- Prince
     "Charlie" -- His Stock in the Company Confiscated -- Further
     Instructions to the Chief Factors -- Another Expedition to
     Search for a North-West Passage -- Parliament Offers Twenty
     Thousand Pounds Reward -- Cavalier Treatment from Governor
     Norton -- Expedition Returns -- Dobbs' Enmity -- Privy Council
     Refuse to Grant his Petition -- Press-gang Outrages -- Voyage
     of the _Seahorse_.                                            257

     CHAPTER XXIII.--1748-1760.

     Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry Appointed -- Aim of the
     Malcontents -- Lord Strange's Report -- Testimony of Witnesses
     -- French Competition -- Lords of Plantations Desire to
     Ascertain Limits of Company's Territory -- Defeat of the
     Labrador Company -- Wolfe's Victory -- "Locked up in the Strong
     Box" -- Company's Forts -- Clandestine Trade -- Case of Captain
     Coats.                                                        269

     CHAPTER XXIV.--1763-1770.

     Effect of the Conquest on the Fur-trade of the French --
     Indians again Seek the Company's Factories -- Influx of
     Highlanders into Canada -- Alexander Henry -- Mystery
     Surrounding the _Albany_ Cleared Up -- Astronomers Visit Prince
     of Wales' Fort -- Strike of Sailors -- Seizure of Furs --
     Measures to Discourage Clandestine Trade.                     286

     CHAPTER XXV.--1768-1773.

     Reports of the "Great River" -- Company Despatch Samuel Hearne on
     a Mission of Discovery -- Norton's Instructions -- Saluted on
     his Departure from the Fort -- First and Second Journeys --
     Matonabee -- Results of the Third Journey -- The Company's
     Servants in the Middle of the Century -- Death of Governor
     Norton.                                                       299

     CHAPTER XXVI.--1773-1782.

     Company Suffers from the Rivalry of Canadians -- Cumberland
     House Built -- Debauchery and License of the Rivals --
     Frobisher Intercepts the Company's Indians -- The Smallpox
     Visitation of 1781 -- La Pérouse appears before Fort Prince of
     Wales -- Hearne's Surrender -- Capture of York Fort by the
     French -- The Post Burned and the Company's Servants carried
     away Prisoners.                                               314

     CHAPTER XXVII.--1783-1800.

     Disastrous Effects of the Competition -- Montreal Merchants
     Combine -- The North-Westers -- Scheme of the Association --
     Alexander Mackenzie -- His two Expeditions Reach the Pacific --
     Emulation Difficult -- David Thompson.                        327

     CHAPTER XXVIII.--1787-1808.

     Captain Vancouver -- La Pérouse in the Pacific -- The Straits
     of Anian -- A Fantastic Episode -- Russian Hunters and Traders
     -- The Russian Company -- Dissensions amongst the Northmen --
     They Send the _Beaver_ to Hudson's Bay -- The Scheme of
     Mackenzie a Failure -- A Ferocious Spirit Fostered -- Abandoned
     Characters -- A Series of Outrages -- The Affair at Bad
     Lake.                                                         344

     CHAPTER XXIX.--1808-1812.

     Crisis in the Company's Affairs -- No Dividend Paid -- Petition
     to Lords of the Treasury -- Factors Allowed a Share in the
     Trade -- Canada Jurisdiction Act -- The Killing of MacDonnell
     -- Mowat's Ill-treatment -- Lord Selkirk -- His Scheme laid
     before the Company -- A Protest by Thwaytes and others -- The
     Project Carried -- Emigrants sent out to Red River -- Northmen
     Stirred to Reprisal.                                          361

     CHAPTER XXX.--1812-1815.

     The Bois-Brulés -- Simon McGillivray's Letter -- Frightening
     the Settlers -- A Second Brigade -- Governor McDonnell's
     Manifesto -- Defection of Northmen to the Company --
     Robertson's Expedition to Athabasca -- Affairs at Red River --
     Cameron and McDonell in Uniform -- Cuthbert Grant -- Miles
     McDonnell Arrested -- Fort William -- News brought to the
     Northmen -- Their confiscated account-books -- War of 1812
     concluded.                                                    383

     CHAPTER XXXI.--1816-1817.

     A New Brigade of Immigrants -- Robert Semple -- Cuthbert
     Grant's Letter -- The De Meuron Regiment -- Assembling of the
     Bois-Brulés -- Tragedy at Seven Oaks -- Selkirk at Fort William
     -- McGillivray Arrested -- Arrest of the Northmen -- Selkirk
     Proceeds to Red River.                                        404

     CHAPTER XXXII.--1817-1821.

     The English Government Intervenes -- Selkirk at Red River --
     Makes a Treaty with the Indians -- Hostilities at Peace River
     -- Governor Williams makes Arrests -- Franklin at York Factory
     -- The Duke of Richmond Interferes -- Trial of Semple's
     Murderers -- Death of Selkirk -- Amalgamation.                423

     CHAPTER XXXIII.--1821-1847.

     The Deed Poll -- A Governor-in-Chief Chosen -- A Chaplain
     Appointed -- New License from George IV. -- Trade on the Pacific
     Coast -- The Red River Country Claimed by the States -- The
     Company in California -- The Oregon Question -- Anglo-Russian
     Treaty of 1825 -- The _Dryad_ Affair -- Lieutenant Franklin's two
     Expeditions -- Red River Territory Yielded to Company --
     Enterprise on the Pacific.                                    436

     CHAPTER XXXIV.--1846-1863.

     The Oregon Treaty -- Boundary Question Settled -- Company
     Proposes Undertaking Colonization of North America -- Enmity
     and Jealousy Aroused -- Attitude of Earl Grey -- Lord Elgin's
     Opinion of the Company -- Amended Proposal for Colonization
     Submitted -- Opposition of Mr. Gladstone -- Grant of Vancouver
     Island Secured, but Allowed to Expire in 1859 -- Dr. Rae's
     Expedition -- The Franklin Expedition and its Fate -- Discovery
     of the North-West Passage -- Imperial Parliament Appoints
     Select Committee -- Toronto Board of Trade Petitions
     Legislative Council -- Trouble with Indians -- Question of
     Buying Out the Company -- British Government Refuses Help --
     "Pacific Scheme" Promoters Meet Company in Official Interview
     -- International Financial Association Buys Company's Rights --
     Edward Ellice, the "Old Bear."                                459

     CHAPTER XXXV.--1863-1871.

     Indignation of the Wintering-Partners -- Distrust and
     Misgivings Arise -- Proposals of Governor Dallas for the
     Compensation of the Wintering-Partners in Exchange for their
     Abrogation of Deed Poll -- Threatened Deadlock -- Position of
     those in Authority Rendered Untenable -- Failure of Duke of
     Newcastle's Proposals for Surrender of Territorial Rights --
     The Russo-American Alaskan Treaty -- The Hon. W. McDougall's
     Resolutions -- Deputation Goes to England -- Sir
     Stafford-Northcote becomes Governor -- Opinion of Lord
     Granville as to the Position of Affairs -- Lack of Military
     System Company's Weakness -- Cession now Inevitable -- Terms
     Suggested by Lord Granville Accepted -- First Riel Rebellion --
     Wolseley at Fort Garry.                                       481

     CHAPTER XXXVI.--1821-1871.

     The Company still King in the North-West -- Its Forts Described
     -- Fort Garry -- Fort Vancouver -- Franklin -- Walla Walla --
     Yukon -- Kamloops -- Samuel Black -- Mountain House -- Fort
     Pitt -- Policy of the Great Company.                          497

     The Hudson's Bay Posts.                                       509


     APPENDIX.

     Royal Charter Incorporating the Hudson's Bay Company          515

     The Alaska Boundary                                           527

     Governors of the Hudson's Bay Company                         531

     Deputy-Governors of the Hudson's Bay Company                  532


     INDEX                                                         533




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


     FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

     Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal                     FRONTISPIECE.

                                                           FACING PAGE

     Prince Rupert                                                  32

     Original Charter of The Great Company                          48

     Capt. Godey and Radisson                                      112

     Marching out of the English Garrison                          160

     The Massacre of Jérémie's Men                                 192

     The Bushranger and the Indians                                337

     Dog Brigade in the Far North                                  304

     Tracking Canoes up the Rapids                                 368

     Murder of Governor Semple                                     416

     Sir George Simpson                                            432

     Sir George Simpson receiving a Deputation                     464

     Interior Hudson's Bay Post                                    496


     ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

                                                                  PAGE

     Early Map of North America                                     19

     Radisson                                                       25

     Chart of Hudson's Straits                                      30

     Prince Rupert                                                  36

     English Map of 1782                                            57

     The Beaver                                                     60

     Arms of the Hudson's Bay Co.                                   67

     Type of Early Trading Post                                     71

     Bark Canoe of Indians on Hudson's Bay                          74

     Landing of Iberville's Men at Port Nelson                     155

     Ships on Hudson's Bay                                         160

     French Encampment                                             163

     Capture of Port Nelson by the French                          167

     Trading with the Indians                                      171

     A Coureur des Bois                                            173

     An Early River Pioneer                                        178

     Facsimile of the Company's Standard of Trade                  181

     French Map of the Bay and Vicinity                            215

     Indian Tepee                                                  218

     An Assiniboine Indian                                         219

     Indian with Tomahawk                                          220

     Esquimau with Dogs                                            223

     Modern Type of Indian                                         231

     Type of Cree Indian                                           234

     An Old Chief                                                  237

     Maldonado's Strait of Anian                                   246

     Lapie's Map of 1821                                           247

     Plans of York and Prince of Wales Forts                       262

     Map showing the Hays River                                    265

     Fort Prince of Wales                                          281

     A Blackfoot Brave                                             289

     Alexander Henry                                               291

     Dobbs' Map, 1744                                              301

     Visit to an Indian Encampment                                 315

     Indian Trappers                                               318

     Ruins of Fort Prince of Wales                                 322

     Sir Alexander Mackenzie                                       330

     A Portage                                                     337

     De L'Isle's Map, 1752                                         345

     The Rival Traders                                             353

     York Factory                                                  355

     Lord Selkirk                                                  372

     Stornaway                                                     380

     A Bois-Brulé                                                  384

     Fort George (Astoria)                                         387

     Arrival of the Upland Indians                                 388

     On the way to Fort William                                    390

     The Company's Ships in 1812                                   392

     Fort Douglas, Red River                                       394

     Scene of Red River Tragedy                                    411

     Vicinity of Fort Douglas                                      414

     Board Room, Hudson's Bay House                                438

     Red River Cart                                                441

     Fur Train from the far North                                  446

     Sir George Back, R.N.                                         451

     Thomas Simpson                                                454

     Hudson's Bay Company's Trade Tokens                           458

     Hudson's Bay Employees on their Annual Expedition             460

     Opening of Cairn on Point Victory                             467

     Discovery of Relics of Franklin Expedition                    468

     Fort Prince of Wales                                          477

     Fort Garry                                                    482

     Arrival of Hudson's Bay Ships at York Factory                 498

     Fort Pelly                                                    499

     Fort Simpson                                                  501

     York Factory                                                  502

     Father Lacombe                                                504

     Gateway to Fort Garry                                         507

     Sketch Map of South-East Alaska                               527




THE GREAT COMPANY.




CHAPTER I.

1660-67.

     Effect of the Restoration on Trade -- Adventurers at Whitehall
     -- The East India Company Monopoly -- English interest in North
     America -- Prince Rupert's claims -- The Fur Trade of Canada --
     Aim of the Work.


That page in the nation's history which records the years immediately
following the Restoration of the Stewarts to the English throne, has
often been regarded as sinister and inauspicious. Crushed and broken
by the long strain of civil war, apparently bankrupt in letters,
commerce and arms, above all, sick of the restraints imposed upon them
by the Roundheads, the nation has too often been represented as
abandoning itself wholly to the pursuit of pleasure, while folly and
license reigned supreme at court. The almost startling rapidity with
which England recovered her pride of place in the commercial world has
been too little dwelt upon. Hardly had Charles the Second settled down
to enjoy his heritage when the spirit of mercantile activity began to
make itself felt once more. The arts of trade and commerce, of
discovery and colonization, which had languished under the Puritan
ascendancy, revived; the fever of "Imperial Expansion" burst out with
an ardour which no probability of failure was able to cool; and the
court of the "Merry Monarch" speedily swarmed with adventurers, eager
to win his favour for the advancement of schemes to which the chiefs
of the Commonwealth would have turned but a deaf ear.

Of just claimants to the royal bounty, in the persons of ruined
cavaliers and their children, there was no lack. With these there also
mingled, in the throng which daily beset the throne with petitions for
grants, charters, patents and monopolies,--returned free-booters,
buccaneers in embryo, upstarts and company-promoters. Every London
tavern and coffee-house resounded with projects for conquest, trade,
or the exploitation of remote regions.

From the news-letters and diaries of the period, and from the minutes
of the Council of Trade and the Royal Society, one may form an
excellent notion of the risks which zealous capital ran during this
memorable decade.

For two centuries and more mercantile speculation had been busy with
the far East. There, it was believed, in the realms of Cathay and
Hindustan, lay England's supreme market. A large number of the marine
expeditions of the sixteenth century were associated with an
enterprise in which the English nation, of all the nations in Europe,
had long borne, and long continued to bear, the chief part. From the
time of Cabot's discovery of the mainland in 1498, our mariners had
dared more and ventured oftener in quest of that passage through the
ice and barren lands of the New World which should conduct them to the
sunny and opulent countries of the East.

[Sidenote: English right to Hudson's Bay.]

The mercantile revival came; it found the Orient robbed of none of its
charm, but monopoly had laid its hand on East India. For over half a
century the East India Company had enjoyed the exclusive right of
trading in the Pacific between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn,
and the merchants of London therefore were forced to cast about for
other fields of possible wealth. As far as North America was
concerned, the merest reference to a map of this period will reveal
the very hazy conception which then prevailed as to this vast
territory. Few courtiers, as yet, either at Whitehall or Versailles,
had begun to concern themselves with nice questions of frontier, or
the precise delimitation of boundaries in parts of the continent which
were as yet unoccupied, still less in those hyperborean regions
described by the mariners Frobisher, Button and Fox. To these
voyagers, themselves, the northern half of the continent was merely a
huge barrier to the accomplishment of their designs.

  [Illustration: EARLY MAP OF NORTH AMERICA.]

Yet in spite of this destructive creed, it had long been a cardinal
belief in the nation that the English crown had by virtue of
Cabot's, and of subsequent discoveries, a right to such territories,
even though such right had never been actively affirmed.[1]

In the year 1664 the King granted the territory now comprised in the
States of New York, New Jersey and Delaware to his brother, the Duke
of York, and the courtiers became curious to know what similar mark of
favour would be bestowed upon his Majesty's yet unrewarded cousin,
Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland and Count Palatine of the Rhine.[2]

The Duke of York succeeded in wresting his new Transatlantic
possession from the Dutch, and the fur-trade of New Amsterdam fell
into English hands. Soon afterwards the first cargo of furs from that
region arrived in the Thames.

Naturally, it was not long before some of the keener-sighted London
merchants began to see behind this transaction vast possibilities of
future wealth. The extent of the fur-trade driven in Canada by the
French was no secret.[3] Twice annually, for many years, had vessels
anchored at Havre, laden with the skins of fox, marten and beaver,
collected and shipped by the Company of the Hundred Associates or
their successors in the Quebec monopoly. A feeling was current that
England ought by right to have a larger share in this promising
traffic, but, it was remarked, "it is not well seen by those cognizant
of the extent of the new plantations how this is to be obtained,
unless we dislodge the French as we have the Dutch, which his present
Majesty would never countenance."

Charles had little reason to be envious of the possession by his
neighbour Lewis, of the country known as New France.

[Sidenote: French fur-trade.]

Those tragic and melancholy narratives, the "Relations des Jesuites,"
had found their way to the English Court. From these it would seem
that the terrors of cold, hunger, hardships, and Indian hostility,
added to the cost and difficulties of civil government, and the
chronic prevalence of official intrigue, were hardly compensated for
by the glories of French ascendancy in Canada. The leading spirits of
the fur-trade then being prosecuted in the northern wilds, were well
aware that they derived their profits from but an infinitesimal
portion of the fur-trading territory; the advantages of extension and
development were perfectly apparent to them; but the difficulties
involved in dealing with the savage tribes, and the dangers attending
the establishment of further connections with the remote interior,
conspired to make them content with the results attained by the
methods then in vogue. The security from rivalry which was guaranteed
to them by their monopoly did not fail to increase their aversion to a
more active policy. Any efforts, therefore, which were made to extend
the French Company's operations were made by Jesuit missionaries, or
by individual traders acting without authority.

Such, in brief, was the state of affairs in the year 1666 when two
intrepid bushrangers, employees of the old Company,[4] dissatisfied
with their prospects under the new _régime_, sought their way out from
the depths of the wilderness to Quebec, and there propounded to the
Intendant, Jean Talon, a scheme for the extension of the fur-trade to
the shores of Hudson's Bay. This enterprising pair saw their project
rejected, and as a sequel to this rejection came the inception and
establishment of an English association,[5] which subsequently
obtained a charter from the King, under the name and title of "The
Governor and Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's
Bay."

To narrate the causes which first led to the formation of this
Company, the contemporary interest it excited, the thrilling
adventures of its early servants, of the wars it waged with the
French and drove so valiantly to a victorious end; its vicissitudes
and gradual growth; the fierce and bloody rivalries it combated
and eventually overbore; its notable expeditions of research by
land and sea; the character of the vast country it ruled and the
Indians inhabiting it; and last but not least, the stirring and
romantic experiences contained in the letters and journals of the
Great Company's factors and traders for a period of above two
centuries--such will be the aim and purpose of this work.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "The great maritime powers of Europe," said Chief Justice
Marshall, "discovered and visited different parts of this Continent at
nearly the same time. The object was too immense for any of them to
grasp the whole; and the claimants were too powerful to submit to the
exclusive or unreasonable pretensions of any single potentate. To
avoid bloody conflicts, which might terminate disastrously to all, it
was necessary for the nations of Europe to establish some principle
which all would acknowledge and which would decide their respective
rights as between themselves. This principle, suggested by the actual
state of things, was, 'that discovery gave title to the Government by
whose subjects or by whose authority it was made, against all other
European governments, which title might be consummated by
possession.'"

[2] "Prince Rupert, we hear, is of no mind to press his Plantation
claims until this Dutch warre is over. A Jamaica pattent is spoke
of."--_Pleasant Passages_, 1665.

[3] As early as 1605, Quebec had been established, and had become an
important settlement; before 1630, the Beaver and several other
companies had been organized, at Quebec, for carrying on the fur-trade
in the West, near and around the Great Lakes and in the North-West
Territory; that the enterprise and trading operations of these French
Companies, and of the French colonists generally, extended over vast
regions of the northern and the north-western portions of the
continent; that they entered into treaties with the Indian tribes and
nations, and carried on a lucrative and extensive fur-trade with the
natives. In the prosecution of their trade and other enterprises these
adventurers evinced great energy, courage and perseverance. They had,
according to subsequent French writers, extended their hunting and
trading operations to the Athabasca country. It was alleged that some
portions of the Athabasca country had before 1640 been visited and
traded in, and to some extent occupied by the French traders in Canada
and their Beaver Company. From 1640 to 1670 these discoveries and
trading settlements had considerably increased in number and
importance.

[4] In 1663 the charter of the Compagnie des Cents Assocés, granted by
Richelieu in 1627, was ceded to the Crown. In 1665 the new Association
"La Compagnie des Indes Occidentals" received its charter.

[5] "Several noblemen and other public-spirited Englishmen, not
unmindful of the discovery and right of the Crown of England to those
parts in America, designed at their own charge to adventure the
establishing of a regular and constant trade in Hudson's Bay, and to
settle forts and factories, whereby to invite the Indian nations (who
live like savages, many hundred leagues up the country), down to their
factories, for a constant and yearly intercourse of trade, which was
never attempted by such settlements, and to reside in that
inhospitable country, before the aforesaid English adventurers
undertook the same."--_Company's Memorial_, 1699.




CHAPTER II.

1659-1666.

     Groseilliers and Radisson -- Their Peregrinations in the
     North-West -- They Return to Quebec and lay their Scheme before
     the Governor -- Repulsed by him they Proceed to New England --
     And thence Sail for France, where they Endeavour to Interest M.
     Colbert.


The year 1659, notable in England as the last of the Puritan
ascendancy and the herald of a stirring era of activity, may be
reckoned as the first with which the annals of the Great Company are
concerned. It is in this year that we first catch a glimpse of two
figures who played an important part in shaping its destinies. Little
as they suspected it, the two intrepid fur-traders, Groseilliers and
Radisson, who in the spring of that year pushed their way westward
from Quebec to the unknown shores of Lake Superior, animated in this,
as in all their subsequent exploits, by a spirit of adventure as well
as a love of gain, were to prove the ancestors of the Great Company.

[Sidenote: Groseilliers' first marriage.]

Medard Chouart, the first of this dauntless pair, was born in France,
near Meaux, and had emigrated to Quebec when he was a little over
sixteen years old. His father had been a pilot, and it was designed
that the son should succeed him in the same calling. But long before
this intention could be realized he fell in with a Jesuit, returned
from Canada, who was full of thrilling tales about the New France
beyond the seas; and so strongly did these anecdotes, with their
suggestion of a rough and joyous career in the wilderness, appeal to
his nature, that he determined to take his own part in the glowing
life which the priest depicted. In 1641 he was one of the fifty-two
_emigrés_ who sailed with the heroic Maissoneuve from Rochelle. Five
years later we find him trading amongst the Hurons, the tribe whose
doom was already sealed by reason of the enmity and superior might of
the Iroquois; and at the close of another year comes the record of his
first marriage. The bride is Etienne, the daughter of a pilot, Abraham
Martin of Quebec, the "eponymous hero" of that plateau adjoining
Quebec where, a century later, was to take place the mortal struggle
between Wolfe and Montcalm.

It was probably soon after this marriage that Chouart adopted the
title "des Groseilliers," derived from a petty estate which his father
had in part bequeathed to him.

Not long did his wife survive the marriage; and she died without
leaving any legacy of children to alleviate his loss. But the young
adventurer was not destined to remain for any length of time
disconsolate. Within a year of his wife's death, there arrived in the
colony a brother and sister named Pierre and Marguerite Radisson,
Huguenots of good family, who had been so persistently hounded in
France by the persecution which sought to exterminate their community,
that the one key to happiness had seemed to them to lie beyond the
seas. No sooner had their father died than they bade farewell to
France and sailed for Canada, there to start a new life amidst new and
more tranquil surroundings.

With this couple young Groseilliers soon struck up an acquaintance;
and so rapidly did the intimacy ripen that before long he was united,
to the sister in matrimony, and to the brother in a partnership for
the pursuit of commercial adventure. The double union proved doubly
fortunate; for Marguerite seems to have made a well-suited wife, and
Pierre, though in birth and education superior to Groseilliers, was no
whit less hardy and adventurous, nor in any respect less fitted for
the arduous tasks which their rough life imposed upon them. The two
speedily became fast friends and associates in enterprise, and thus
united they soon took their place as the leading spirits of the
settlement at Three Rivers. Here, in 1656, Radisson married for the
first time, his bride being a Mlle. Elizabeth Herault, one of the few
Protestant young women in the whole of Canada. Groseilliers, who had
been long disgusted at the priestly tyranny of which he had seen so
much in Canada, probably needed but little inducement to embrace the
Protestant religion, if indeed this had not been stipulated upon at
the time of his marriage. At all events, we now find him reputed to be
among the Protestants of the Colony; some of whom were, in spite of
the bitter prejudice against them, the boldest and most successful
spirits the fur-trading community of that period had to show.

  [Illustration: RADISSON.
   (_After an old print._)]

[Sidenote: Radisson weds Miss Kirke.]

Radisson, like Groseilliers,[6] had the misfortune to lose his wife
soon after their marriage; but, like his comrade, he too sought
consolation in a fresh marriage. This time he allied himself with the
daughter of a zealous English Protestant, who afterwards became Sir
John Kirke. It was to the brothers of this Kirke that the great
Champlain, thirty years before, had surrendered Quebec.

With this introduction to the characters of the two remarkable men
whose fortunes were to become so closely entwined with that of the
Hudson's Bay Company, we may pass to their early efforts to extend the
fur-trade beyond those limits which the distracted and narrow-minded
officers of the Compagnie des Cent Assocés, thought it necessary to
observe.

Reaching the shore of Lake Superior in the early summer of 1659,
Radisson and Groseilliers travelled for six days in a south-westerly
direction, and then came upon a tribe of Indians incorporated with the
Hurons, known as the Tionnontates, or the Tobacco Nation. These people
dwelt in the territory between the sources of the Black and Chippeway
rivers, in what is now the State of Wisconsin, whence, in terror of
the bloody enmity of the Iroquois, they afterwards migrated to the
small islands in Lake Michigan at the entrance of Green Bay.

During their temporary sojourn with this branch of the unhappy Hurons
the two pioneering traders heard constant mention of a deep, wide, and
beautiful river--comparable to the St. Lawrence--to the westward, and
for a time they were half tempted by their ever-present thirst for
novelty to proceed in that direction. Other counsels, however, seem to
have prevailed; for instead of striking out for the unknown river of
the west they journeyed northward, and wintered with the
Nadouechiouecs or Sioux, who hunted and fished among the innumerable
lakes of Minnesota. Soon afterwards they came upon a separate band of
war-like Sioux, known as the Assiniboines, a prosperous and
intelligent tribe, who lived in skin and clay lodges and were
"familiar with the use of charcoal."

[Sidenote: A Route to the Bay.]

From these Assiniboines, Radisson and Groseilliers first heard of the
character and extent of that great bay to the north, named by the
English marine explorers "Hudson's Bay," which was to be the scene of
their later labours; and not only did they glean news of its nature,
but they also succeeded in obtaining information as to the means of
reaching it.

In August, 1660, the two adventurers found their way back to Montreal,
after over a year's absence. They were accompanied by three hundred
Indians, and in possession of sixty canoes laden with furs, which they
undertook to dispose of to the advantage of the savages and
themselves. As they had anticipated, they found the little colony and
its leaders deeply interested in their reports of the extent and
richness of the fur-producing countries to the westward, as well as
in their description of the unfamiliar tribes inhabiting that region.
The sale of the furs having resulted in a handsome profit,
Groseilliers announced to his brother-in-law his intention of making
the journey on his own account. There was no dearth of volunteers
eager to embark in the enterprise, and from those who offered their
services he chose six Frenchmen--_coureurs des bois_ or bushrangers;
and having provided himself with an ample outfit, turned his footsteps
once more to the prairies of the west, while Radisson went to rejoin
his wife and sister at Three Rivers.

On the eve of his departure the Jesuit Fathers, distrusting
Groseilliers' religious proclivities and suspecting that he might
attempt to influence the Assiniboines, insisted upon one of their
number accompanying him. The priest chosen for this arduous mission
was the aged missionary Réné Ménard, who, in spite of his physical
frailty was still undaunted by any prospect of peril; though he was,
on this occasion, prevailed upon to allow his servant Guérin to
accompany him. It was the priest's last journey. When Groseilliers
again reached Montreal, after a season in the wilderness as prosperous
as its forerunner, he bore the mournful news that Ménard had been
massacred and his body, beyond question, devoured by a fierce band of
Indians.

This voyage, besides showing lucrative results, also proved a
memorable one for Groseilliers, inasmuch as it was during his winter's
sojourn with the distant Assiniboines that he acquired information
which affected his whole subsequent career. There can be no question
that it was the knowledge he obtained from this tribe of a convenient
route to Hudson's Bay, by way of Lake Superior, and of a system of
trade with the tribes dwelling on or in proximity to that unknown sea,
that caused him to set out once again in May, 1662, for the west. He
was accompanied by ten men, all of whom were disaffected towards the
powers which then controlled the fur-trade in New France, and the
combination of good fortune and _esprit de corps_ among his followers
proved so successful that when, after a year's absence, he returned
to the eastern colonies, the number of furs he brought back was
sufficiently great to render a simultaneous disposal of all the packs
inadvisable. He adopted the wise course of dividing them into three
consignments, and these were sold respectively at Montreal, Three
Rivers, and Quebec. Henceforward, but one idea possessed
Groseilliers--a journey to the great fur-lands of the north. It should
be his life's work to exploit the fur-trade of Hudson's Bay. Already
he saw himself rich--richer even than the merchant-princes of old
Rochelle.

[Sidenote: A new fur Company.]

But alas for his plans, the official laxity and dissensions which had
made it possible for himself and others thus to infringe with
impunity, the general monopoly granted by the King came to a sudden
end. A fresh patent for a new Company was issued by the Crown; a new
Governor, M. d'Avagour, entered upon the scene, and the rigorous
measures enacted against private traders drove many of these over to
the English and the Dutch.

A commission from M. d'Avagour, dated the 10th of May, 1663, conveyed
permission to one M. Couture to remove with five men to the bottom of
the Great Bay to the North of Canada, consequent upon the requisition
of some Indians, who had returned to Quebec to ask for aid to conduct
and assist them in their affairs. This same Couture afterwards
certified, or the French Government certified in his stead, that he
really undertook this voyage, and "erected anew upon the lands at the
bottom of the said Bay a cross and the arms of the King engraved on
copper, and placed between two plates of lead at the foot of a large
tree." Much justifiable doubt has been cast upon this story, and at a
much later period, when French and English interests were contesting
hotly for the sovereignty of the territory surrounding Hudson's Bay,
an expedition was sent in search of the boasted memorials, but no
trace of the cross or the copper escutcheon could be found. There
seems every probability that the allegation, or the subsequent
statement of an allegation of this description, was false.

Groseilliers had thus to reckon with the new fur-trading proprietors
of Quebec, who were to prove themselves less complaisant than the old.
They instantly interdicted traders from going in search of peltries;
reasoning that the produce would ultimately find its way into their
hands, without the need of any such solicitation. And though
Groseilliers persistently explained to them that their policy of
interdiction was really a short-sighted one; that the Indians could
not be always depended upon to bring their own furs to the Company's
mart; and that no great time would elapse before the English or Dutch
would push their way westward to Lake Superior, and so acquire an
unequalled opportunity of developing the resources of the northern
regions; neither his criticism and advice (founded on personal
knowledge of the unstable Indian character) nor the apprehensions of
rivalry, which he showed good grounds for entertaining, had any power
to move the officials of the Hundred Associates. Neither argument,
entreaty, nor prognostications of danger would induce them to look
with any favour upon Groseilliers' project, or even entertain his
proposals.

[Sidenote: Groseilliers in Boston.]

Groseilliers afterwards hinted that it was prejudice against his
adopted religion which really lay at the bottom of this complete
rejection of his scheme, and also accounted for the Company's refusal
to avail themselves of his services, otherwise than as a mere salaried
servant. It was at this juncture that he sought the advice of
Radisson, and it is not unlikely that it was the counsels of his
brother-in-law which induced him to resolve upon a bold step in the
furtherance of his cherished project. It was well-known that the
English colonists settled in New England were putting forth the
strongest efforts to secure a share of the fur-trade of the North.
Their allies, the redoubtable Iroquois, had upon several occasions
way-laid and plundered the Huron tribes, who were conveying their
cargoes to Quebec and Montreal, and had delivered these into the hands
of the English. Farther westward, the Dutch were indefatigable in
their endeavours to divert the fur-traffic of the North from the St.
Lawrence to the Hudson. But the Dutch had been vanquished by the
English; New Amsterdam was now New York; and it was English brains
and English money which now controlled the little colony and the
untravelled lands which lay beyond it. It was to the English,
therefore, that the indomitable adventurer now determined to apply.
Madame Radisson had relatives in Boston; her father was an intimate
friend of the Governor. Relying on such influences as these, but still
more on the soundness of his project, Groseilliers made his way to
Boston by way of Acadia.

  [Illustration: A CHART OF HUDSON'S STREIGHTS AND BAY OF DAVIS
   STREIGHTS, AND BAFFIN'S BAY; AS PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1668. ]

Early in 1664 we find the Mother Superior of the Ursuline Nuns at
Quebec writing thus of Groseilliers:

"As he had not been successful in making a fortune, he was seized with
a fancy to go to New England to better his condition. He excited a
hope among the English that he had found a passage to the Sea of the
North."

The good Mother Superior was deceived. It was no part of Groseilliers'
plan to seek a passage to the Sea of the North; but one can hardly
doubt that he found it highly politic that such a report should obtain
currency in Quebec. The fur-trade of the North, and the fur-trade
alone, was Groseilliers' lode-stone; but in spite of all it had cost
him to acquire the knowledge he already possessed, he was ready to
abandon the land and fresh water route, and seek the shores of
Hudson's Bay from the side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Doubtless many causes operated to alter his original plan; but there
can be little question that the most potent was the opposition of the
Canadian Company. Yet had the sea route not existed, even the
opposition of the Company would not have sufficed to baulk him of a
fulfilment of his designs. He would not have been the first French
trader, even at that early day in the history of the rival colonies,
to circumvent his countrymen, and, taking advantage of their confined
area of activity, to conduct negotiations with the Indians surrounding
the most distant outposts of their territory. The proceeding would
have been hazardous had the Company possessed the force necessary to
assert its rights to the trade of the whole northern and north-western
country; but the new company would not as yet possess the force. The
most real danger Groseilliers had to fear was that, if he persisted in
his endeavours to draw away the trade of the northern tribes, he might
be outlawed and his property, and that of his brother-in-law Radisson,
confiscated. Groseilliers had left his wife and his son in Canada, and
he therefore went to work with considerable caution.

It has been asserted, and perhaps with excellent point, that
Groseilliers may have been very powerfully influenced in the
abandonment of his land and fresh water route by obtaining an entirely
new idea of the configuration of northern North America. In the maps
which were likely at that time to have found their way to Quebec, the
northern regions are but very dimly defined; and with the knowledge of
geography gained only from these maps Groseilliers could hardly have
realized the accessibility of the approach by sea. It seems likely
therefore that the change of route was not even thought of until
Groseilliers had had his interview with Radisson; it was probably
Radisson--with his superior geographical knowledge and more thorough
comprehension (through his kinship with the Kirkes, all famous
mariners) of the discoveries made by the English in the northern
parts--who advocated the sea-route. The idea must have grown upon him
gradually. His countrymen took it for granted that the whole northern
country was theirs, apparently assuming the sole mode of access to be
by land. The sea route never seems to have occurred to them, or if
they thought of it at all, it was dismissed as dangerous and
impracticable for purposes of commerce. The configuration of the
northern country, the form and extent of the seas, certainly the
character of the straits and islands, were to them little known.
Secure in what they regarded as nominal possession, forgetful that
English mariners had penetrated and named these northern waters, the
officials of the Canada Company were content to pursue a policy of
_laissez faire_ and to deprecate all apprehensions of rivalry.

Singular coincidence! More than a century was to elapse and another
Company with ten times the wealth, the power, the sovereignty wielded
by this one: not French--for France had then been shorn of her
dominion and authority--but English, scorning the all-conquering,
all-pervading spirit of mercantile England, was to pursue the same
policy, and to suffer the loss of much blood and treasure in
consequence of such pursuit.

[Sidenote: Groseilliers finds no patrons.]

In Boston, the main difficulty which Groseilliers encountered was a
scarcity of wealth. His scheme was approved by many of the leading
spirits there, and his assertions as to the wealth of the fur-bearing
country were not doubted. But at that period the little Puritan colony
was much put to it to carry out projects for its own security and
maintenance, not to mention plans for enrichment much nearer home. And
it was pointed out to him that so long as schemes which were regarded
as essential to safety could only be with difficulty supported, no
pecuniary assistance could be rendered for an extraneous project,
however promising its nature.[7]

  [Illustration: PRINCE RUPERT.
   (_After the painting by Sir P. Lely._)]

There were in Boston at this time, however, four personages whom the
King had sent as envoys, in 1664, to force the Dutch to evacuate
Manhattan, and who were also a kind of commission instructed to visit
the English colonies, and to hear and rule their complaints. They were
Richard Nichols, Robert Carr, George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick.
One of these, Colonel Carr, it is said, strongly urged Groseilliers to
proceed to England and offer his services to the King.

[Sidenote: Zachary Gillam.]

Although, therefore, he was unable to secure there the patronage he
desired, Groseilliers' visit to Boston was not quite barren of profit.
He fell in besides with an intelligent sea-faring man, Zachary Gillam,
who was then captain and part-owner of a small vessel, the _Nonsuch_,
with which he plied a trade between the colony and the mother country.
Gillam expressed himself eager to assist in the project as far as lay
in his power, and offered his services in case an equipment could be
found. A long correspondence passed between Groseilliers and his
brother-in-law in Canada, the latter very naturally urging that as the
New England project had failed, it would be advisable not to seek
further aid from the English, but that, as nothing was to be expected
from the Canada Company, or the merchants of Canada, it would be as
well to journey to France, and put the matter before the French Court.


Groseilliers seems to have agreed to this; and he wrote back begging
Radisson to join him in Boston with the object of accompanying him to
France. In June, 1665, both the adventurers set sail in the _Nonsuch_
for Plymouth, whence in all likelihood they proceeded direct to Havre.

It would be unprofitable, and at best but a repetition, to describe
the difficulties Groseilliers and his brother-in-law met with in
Paris, the petitions they presented and the many verbal
representations they made. In the midst of their ill-success Colonel
Carr came to Paris. There is extant a letter of his to Lord Arlington.
"Having heard," says he, "by the French in New England of a great
traffic in beavers" to be got in the region of Hudson's Bay, and
"having had proofs of the assertions" of the two adventurers, he
thought "the finest present" he could make to his majesty was to
despatch these men to him.

The ambassador pondered on this and at last decided to entrust
Groseilliers with a letter to a certain prince--a friend of his--and a
patron of the Arts and Sciences. Leaving Radisson despondent in Paris,
therefore, the other adventurer crossed the Channel and found himself,
with a beating heart, for the first time in the English capital.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Each writer seems to have followed his own fancy in spelling our
hero's name, I find Groiseliez, Grozeliers, Groseliers, Groiziliers,
Grosillers, Groiseleiz, and Groseillers. Charlevoix spells it
Groseilliers. Dr. Dionne, following Radisson's Chouard, writes
Chouart. But as Dr. Brymner justly observes "he is as little known by
that name as Voltaire by his real name of Arouet, he being always
spoken of by the name of des Groseilliers, changed in one affidavit
into 'Gooseberry.'" The name literally translated is, of course,
Gooseberry-bushes.

[7] For example, the adjoining colony of Connecticut had appealed to
them for help in their laudable enterprise of despoiling the Dutch of
their possessions. Raids upon the territory and trading-posts
controlled by the Dutch were a constantly recurring feature in the
history of those times, and nearly the whole of the zeal and substance
remaining to the English colonists in Connecticut and Virginia, after
their periodical strifes with the Indians, were devoted to forcing the
unhappy Hollanders to acknowledge the sovereignty of King Charles of
England.




CHAPTER III.

1667-1668.

     Prince Rupert -- His Character -- Serves through the Civil War
     -- His Naval Expedition in the West Indies -- Residence in
     France -- And ultimately in London -- He receives Groseilliers
     and introduces him to the King.


It was a fortunate chance for Medard Chouart des Groseilliers that
threw him, as we shall see, into the hands of such a man as Rupert,
Prince of England and Bohemia.

A dashing soldier, a daring sailor, a keen and enlightened student, a
man of parts, and at the age of forty-seven still worshipping
adventure as a fetish and irresistibly attracted by anything that
savoured of novelty, there was perhaps no other noble in England more
likely to listen to such a project as the Canadian was prepared to
pour into his ear, no prince in the whole of Europe more likely to
succumb to its charm.

Rupert may, on good grounds, be considered one of the most remarkable
men of that age. He was the third son of the King of Bohemia by the
Princess Elizabeth Stuart, eldest daughter of James I. In common with
most German princes he had been educated for the army; and, as he used
to observe himself in after years, there was no profession better
fitted for a prince provided he could be allowed to fight battles. It
was a maxim of his that the arts of patience, of strategy, and
parleying with the enemy should be left to statesmen and caitiffs; and
it can be said with truth of Rupert that no one could possibly have
acted more completely in accordance with his rule than himself. "Than
Prince Rupert," wrote a chronicler at his death, "no man was more
courageous or intrepid. He could storm a citadel but, alas, he could
never keep it. A lion in the fray, he was a very lamb, tho' a fuming
one, if a siege was called for."

  [Illustration: PRINCE RUPERT.
   (_After a painting by Vandyke._)]

Youthful, high-spirited and of comely appearance, Rupert found his way
to England during his twentieth year to offer his services to his
royal uncle, King Charles I. The country was then on the brink of a
civil war. Parliament had proved refractory. The Puritan forces had
already assembled; and in a few months the first blow was struck. The
young Prince placed himself at the head of a troop of cavaliers and
soon all England was ringing with the fame of his exploits. On more
than one occasion did Cromwell have reason to remember the prowess of
"fiery Prince Rupert."

[Sidenote: The Great Company's Founder.]

Such dashing tactics and spontaneous strategy, however, could not
always prevail. He was charged with the defence of Bristol, with what
result is a matter of common historical knowledge. His own observation
on this episode in his career is an admirable epitome of his
character, as comprehensive as it is brief, "I have no stomach for
sieges."

Charles wrote him a letter of somewhat undue severity, in which he
exhibited all the asperity of his character as well as his ignorance
of the situation. Perhaps if he had realized that the circumstances
would have rendered the retention of Bristol impossible even to a
Caesar or a Turenne, he might have written in a more tolerant strain;
but it is not very probable. In any case the letter cut Rupert to the
heart.

Before his final overthrow Charles, indeed, relented from his
severity, and created his nephew Earl of Holdernesse and Duke of
Cumberland, granting him also a safe conduct to France, which was
honoured by the Parliamentary leaders.

Thenceforward for a few years Rupert's career is directly associated
with the high seas. On the revolt of the fleet from the control of the
Commonwealth he made his way on board of one of the King's vessels,
and figured in several naval battles and skirmishes. But even here the
result was a foregone conclusion. The bulk of the ships and crews
still remaining loyal were rapidly captured or sunk, and the remnant,
of which Rupert assumed command, was exceedingly small. He began by
sailing to Ireland, whither he was pursued by Popham and Blake, who
very quickly blocked him up in the harbour of Kinsale. But the Puritan
captains were deceived if, as it appears, they fancied the Prince an
easy prey. Rupert was no more the sailor than he had been the soldier
to brook so facile a capture. He effected a bold escape, just under
their guns. But realizing his helplessness to engage the Puritan fleet
in open combat, he inaugurated a series of minor conflicts, a kind of
guerilla warfare, which, to our modern notions, would best be
classified under the head of privateering, to use no harsher term.

[Sidenote: A resemblance to piracy.]

The Spanish Main was at that period an excellent ground for operations
of this kind, and with very little delay Rupert was soon very busy
with his small but gallant fleet in those waters. Here the commander
of the little _Reformation_ and his convoys spent three years with no
little pecuniary profit to himself and crew. On more than one occasion
his exploits in the neighbourhood of the West Indies bore no distant
resemblance to piracy, as he boarded impartially not only English,
Dutch and Spanish ships, but also those flying the English colours.
Howbeit on one occasion, being advised that the master of one craft
was a Frenchman, he generously forebore to reap the profits of his
valour out of respect to the monarch with whom both his cousins,
Charles and James, had found a refuge. He insisted that the plunder
should be restored. On the whole, however, Rupert seems to have had
little conscience in the matter. The mere excitement of such
adventures alone delighted him, although it would scarce have
satisfied his crews. There is reason to suppose that he himself was
not actuated primarily by the mere love of gain. It is known that
several of his captains returned with large fortunes; Rupert's own
profits were long a matter for conjecture. Even at his death they
could not be approximately ascertained; for while he left a goodly
fortune, comprising jewels valued at twenty thousand pounds, much of
this fortune was acquired legitimately since these stirring days of
his youth; and no small part was derived from his share in the
Hudson's Bay Company.

The exiled prince, in whose name Rupert was always extremely careful
to conduct his depredations on the prosperous commerce of the West
Indies, does not appear himself to have derived much material
advantage therefrom. It was true the terror of his name was already
industriously spread in those waters, and this perhaps was some
consolation for the contempt with which it was regarded by the
insolent and usurping Puritans. In a newspaper of the period,
"Pleasant Passages," I find under date of October 15, 1652, the
following quaint comment:

"Prince Rupert hath lately seized on some good prizes and he keeps
himself far remote; and makes his kinsman, Charles Stuart, make a leg
for some cullings of his windfalls."

[Sidenote: Loss of the "Reformation."]

Rupert after a time transferred the scene of his operations to the
Azores, where after some collisions with the Portuguese, he met with a
catastrophe so severe as to compel him to permanently desist from his
predatory operations. A violent storm came on, and the _Reformation_
and his entire fleet perished, no fewer than 360 souls being lost on
the flagship. It was with difficulty that the Prince and twelve of his
companions, including his brother Maurice, escaped with a portion of
the treasure. A contemporary news-writer records that Rupert had
landed at Nantes with ten thousand pounds or so, "'tis said by those
best informed. The King hath sent his carriage to meet him at
Orleans."

Charles, who was of course the King mentioned, was then in high hopes
of obtaining funds from his cousin Rupert, which might enable him to
make an effort for the recovery of his crown. But the king, minus a
throne, was destined to be disappointed. Rupert did not yet seem
prepared to disgorge, acting, it is easy to see, on advice.[8]

"No money for his Majesty out of all this," forms the burden of
numerous letters written by the faithful Edward Hyde, afterwards to
become the Lord Chancellor Clarendon.

"The money the King should have received!" he complains, in an epistle
addressed to Sir Richard Browne. "Why, Rupert is so totally governed
by the Lord Keeper, Sir Edward Herbert, that the King knows him not.
The King hasn't had a penny, and Rupert pretends the King owes him
more than ever I was worth."

Hyde had no love for the Lord Keeper of the exiled court; but
according to several contemporary writers, the buccaneering Prince
looked upon Herbert as "an oracle," (to quote the diarist Evelyn) and
chose for a time at least to spend most of his gains in his own way.

But Rupert did not persist in the course suggested by his friend
Herbert. Soon afterwards he is announced to have made Charles a
present of two thousand pounds, for which the King expressed his
profound satisfaction by attaching him immediately to the royal
household.

A little later, in 1654, there is recorded the following, printed in
the "Loyal Gentleman at Court."

"Prince Rupert flourishes highly here, with his troop of blackamoors;
and so doth his cousin Charles, they having shared the money made of
his prize goods at Nantz."

[Sidenote: Rupert's Secretary.]

It was in this year that Rupert seems to have engaged one William
Strong, a cavalier who had lost all he possessed, to replace John
Holder as his private secretary, a circumstance worthy of mention,
inasmuch as it was Strong who was to figure later as the intermediary
between his master and the adventurer Groseilliers in London.

There is a passage of this period which describes Rupert as he
appeared in Paris, "a straight and comely man, very dark-featured,"
probably owing to exposure in warm climates, "with jet black hair and
a great passion for dress." He is often referred to in news-letters
and diaries of the time under the sobriquet of the "Black Prince."

"Our Black Prince Ruperte" records one, "has had a narrow escape from
drowning in the Seine; but by the help of one of his blackamoors
escaped."

This was perhaps the period of the closest friendship between Charles
and his Bohemian cousin; inasmuch as a decided coolness had already
arisen on the part of the exiled monarch and his brother, the Duke of
York. This coolness at length terminated in a quarrel, and a
separation in the ensuing year at Bruges. Indeed, the Duke advised
Rupert to have no further dealings with his royal brother, a
proposition which the Prince wisely, and fortunately for himself,
neglected to entertain, for had he acted otherwise, it is extremely
doubtful if at the Restoration he would have been in a position to
demand any favours at the monarch's hands. James, probably on this
score, never afterwards professed much cordiality towards his kinsman,
Rupert.

[Sidenote: A patron of commerce.]

In the years between 1656 and 1665, Rupert spent much of his time in
cultivating science and the arts. There are a hundred evidences of his
extraordinary ingenuity. A mere list of his devices and inventions, as
printed at his decease in 1682, almost entitles him to be considered
the Edison of his day, a day in which inventors were rare. Yet in the
period before the outbreak of the Dutch war his activity was by no
means limited to the laboratory which he had constructed for himself
in Kings' Bench Walk, Temple, or to his study at Windsor. None could
have exhibited greater versatility. In April, 1662, he was sworn a
member of the Privy Council; he also became a member of the Tangier
Commission; and in December of the same year he was unanimously
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He already cut a prominent
figure as a patron of commerce, being appointed a member of the
Council of Trade, and taking an active part in the promotion of
commerce with Africa as a member of the Royal African Company.

With all his sympathies and activities, however, it is very clear that
Rupert did not enjoy very great favour at Court. He was suspected of
holding his royal cousin in not very high esteem, and of entertaining
pronounced opinions on the subject of the royal prerogative; whatever
the cause, his influence at Whitehall was not always fortunate. Seeing
his councils neglected on several occasions, he kept aloof, and the
courtiers, taking as they supposed their cue from their master, made
light of his past achievements, finding in his surrender of the city
of Bristol, a specially suitable subject for their derision.

In 1664 we find in Pepys' Diary that Rupert had been "sent to command
the Guinny Fleet. Few pleased, as he is accounted an unhappy [_i.e._,
unlucky] man." As a consequence of these sentiments, which Rupert was
soon destined by his valour to alter, one Captain Holmes was sent
instead. Nevertheless it was known at Court that Rupert desired a
naval employment, and as the authorities found that their estimate of
his abilities was not mistaken, he was in 1666 selected to command the
fleet against the Dutch, in conjunction with the Duke of Albemarle.
His conduct was most exemplary. On one occasion he wrested a victory
from the Dutch, and again in the month of June beat them soundly,
pursuing them into their own harbour. Returning to England on the
cessation of hostilities, he found himself in much higher favour at
Court. But with a single exception, which I will proceed to relate,
Rupert sought no favours at the hands of his royal relations from this
moment until the day of his death. He was content to pursue an even
career in comparative solitude, a circumstance for which a serious
physical ailment, which soon overtook and for a time threatened his
life, was no doubt in some measure responsible. The fire which
distinguished his youth was exchanged, we are told, for good temper
and sedateness. He was credited with writing an autobiography, but if
the report be true, it is a pity there remains no tangible evidence of
such an intention. It is certain that his correspondence was so large
as to entail the continuous employment of a secretary, William Strong;
but prior to the inception of the Hudson's Bay project, it probably
related almost entirely to his chemical and scientific researches and
achievements.

In May, 1667, the Prince's secretary opened a letter from Lord
Preston, then English ambassador at Paris, intimating that one M. des
Groseilliers, a Canadian fur-trader, would be the bearer of an
introductory letter from himself to his highness. He was convinced
that the French were managing the fur-trade of New France very
clumsily, and he added that Monsieur des Groseilliers seemed as much
disaffected towards the new company lately chartered by the French
king as towards the old. There is no reason, in the writer's opinion,
why English men of commerce should not avail themselves of
opportunities and instruments, such as the weak policy of their rivals
now afforded, for obtaining a share in the northern fur-trade.

[Sidenote: Rupert sends for Groseilliers.]

Unfortunately Rupert was at first unable to see the adventurer who had
travelled so far. The cause of the delay is not quite clear, but it
appears plausible to suppose that it was due to the Prince's illness.
He had already undergone the operation of trepanning, and it was found
necessary to still continue treatment for the disease to which he had
been subject. At any rate it was a fortnight or three weeks before the
first interview took place, and the Prince and the French trader did
not meet until the 4th of June. The result of this interview was that
Prince Rupert promised his credit for the scheme. Three days later he
sent for Groseilliers, who found on his arrival in the Prince's
apartments several gentlemen, among whom Lord Craven, Sir John
Robinson and Mr. John Portman appear to have been numbered. In a week
from this conference both Radisson, Groseilliers and Portman travelled
to Windsor Castle at the request of the Prince. There is no record of
what then passed, but there is mention of a further meeting in a
letter written by Oldenburgh, the secretary of the Royal Society to
Robert Boyle, in America.

"Surely I need not tell you from hence" he wrote, "what is said here
with great joy of the discovery of a north-west passage by two
Englishmen and one Frenchman, lately represented by them to his
Majesty at Oxford and, answered by the grant of a vessel to sail into
Hudson's Bay and channel into the South Sea."

From this it would appear that Radisson was then popularly supposed to
be an Englishman, probably on account of his being Sir John Kirke's
son-in-law, and also that the matter was not settled at Windsor, but
at Oxford.

Then came a long delay--during which there is nothing worthy of
record. It was too late to attempt a voyage to the Bay in 1667, but
during the autumn and winter Groseilliers and Radisson could console
themselves with the assurance that their scheme had succeeded.

For at last the adventurers had met with a tangible success. A ship
was engaged and fitted out for them; and it was none other than that
commanded by their Boston friend, Captain Zachary Gillam.

FOOTNOTE:

[8] "We have another great officer," records "Pleasant Passages" in
another budget of news from Paris, "Prince Ruperte, Master of the
Horse."




CHAPTER IV.

1668-1670.

     The Prince Visits the _Nonsuch_ -- Arrival in the Bay --
     Previous Voyages of Exploration -- A Fort Commenced at Rupert's
     River -- Gillam's Return -- Dealing with the Nodwayes --
     Satisfaction of the Company -- A Royal Charter Granted.


Early in the morning of the 3rd of June, 1668, without attracting
undue attention from the riparian dwellers and loiterers, a small
skiff shot out from Wapping Old Stairs. The boatman directed its prow
towards the _Nonsuch_, a ketch of fifty tons, then lying at anchor in
mid-Thames, and soon had the satisfaction of conveying on board in
safety his Highness Prince Rupert, Lord Craven, and Mr. Hays, the
distinguished patrons of an interesting expedition that day embarking
for the New World. Radisson was to have accompanied the expedition but
he had met with an accident and was obliged to forego the journey
until the following year.

All hands being piped on deck, a salute was fired in honour of the
visitors. Captain Zachary Gillam and the Sieur des Groseilliers
received the Prince, and undertook to exhibit, not without a proper
pride, their craft and its cargo. Subsequently a descent was made to
the captain's cabin, where a bottle of Madeira was broached, and the
success of the voyage toasted by Rupert and his companions. The party
then returned to Wapping, amidst a ringing cheer from captain and
crew. By ten o'clock the _Nonsuch_ had weighed anchor and her voyage
had begun.

The passage across the Atlantic was without any incident worthy of
record. The vessel was fortunate in encountering no gales or rough
seas. The leisure of Groseilliers and Captain Gillam was employed
chiefly in discussing the most advantageous landfall, and in drawing
up plans for a settlement for fort-building and for trade with the
tribes. By the 4th of August they sighted Resolution Isle, at the
entrance of Hudson's Straits. They continued fearlessly on their
course. During their progress the shores on either hand were
occasionally visible; and once a squall compelled them to go so near
land as to descry a band of natives, the like of whom for bulk and
singularity of costume, Groseilliers and the captain had never clapped
eyes upon. They were right in judging these to be Esquimaux.

[Sidenote: The "Nonsuch" in the Bay.]

On the seventh day of their passage amongst those narrow channels and
mountains of ice which had chilled the enthusiasm and impeded the
progress of several daring navigators before them, the forty-two souls
on board the _Nonsuch_ were rewarded with a sight of Hudson's Bay.[9]

Already, and long before the advent of the _Nonsuch_, Hudson's Bay had
a history and a thrilling one.

In 1576 Sir Martin Frobisher made his first voyage for the discovery
of a passage to China and Cathay by the north-west, discovering and
entering a strait to which he gave his name. In the following year he
made a second voyage, "using all possible means to bring the natives
to trade, or give him some account of themselves, but they were so
wild that they only studied to destroy the English." Frobisher
remained until winter approached and then returned to England. A
further voyage of his in 1578-79 made no addition to the knowledge
already derived.

Six years later Captain John Davis sailed from Dartmouth, and in that
and succeeding voyages reached the Arctic circle through the straits
bearing his name. He related having found an open sea tending
westward, which he hoped might be the passage so long sought for; but
the weather proved too tempestuous, and, the season being far
advanced, he likewise returned to a more hospitable clime. After this
there were no more adventures in this quarter of the world until 1607,
when Captain Hudson explored as far north as 80 degrees 23 minutes. On
his third voyage, two years later, he proceeded a hundred leagues
farther along the strait, and arriving at the Bay resolved to winter
there.

Hudson was preparing for further exploration when Henry Green, a
profligate youth, whom he had taken into his house and preserved from
ruin by giving him a berth on board without the knowledge of the
owners, conspired with one Robert Ivett, the mate, whom Captain Hudson
had removed, to mutiny against Hudson's command. These turned the
captain, with his young son John, a gentleman named Woodhouse, who had
accompanied the expedition, together with the carpenter and five
others, into a long-boat, with hardly any provisions or arms. The
inhuman crew suffered all the hardships they deserved, for in a
quarrel they had with the savages Green and two of his companions were
slain. As for Ivett, who had made several voyages with Hudson, and was
the cause of all the mischief, he died on the passage home. Habbakuk
Prickett, one of the crew, who wrote all the account we have of the
latter part of the voyage, was a servant of Sir Dudley Diggs. Probably
his master's influence had something to do with his escape from
punishment.

[Sidenote: Henry Hudson's fate.]

This was the last ever seen or heard, by white men, of Henry Hudson,
and there is every likelihood that he and the others drifted to the
bottom of the Bay and were massacred by the savages.

In the year of Hudson's death Sir Thomas Button, at the instigation of
that patron of geographical science, Prince Henry, pursued the dead
hero's discoveries. He passed Hudson's Straits and, traversing the
Bay, settled above two hundred leagues to the south-west from the
straits, bestowing upon the adjacent region the name of New Wales.
Wintering in the district afterwards called Port Nelson, Button made
an investigation of the boundaries of this huge inland sea, from him
named Button's Bay.

In 1611 came the expedition of Baffin; and in 1631 Captain James
sailed westward to find the long-sought passage to China, spending the
winter at Charlton Island, which afterwards became a depot of the
Company. Captain Luke Fox went out in the same year, but his success
was no greater than his predecessors in attaining the object of his
search. He landed at Port Nelson and explored the country round about,
without however much advantage either to himself or to his crew. When
the _Nonsuch_ arrived a quarter of a century had passed since an
European had visited Hudson's Bay.

After much consultation, the adventurers sailed southward from Cape
Smith, and on Sept. 29 decided to cast anchor at the entrance to a
river situated in 51 degrees latitude. The journey was ended; the
barque's keel grated on the gravel, a boat was lowered and Gillam and
Groseilliers went promptly ashore. The river was christened Rupert's
River,[10] and it being arranged to winter here, all hands were ordered
ashore to commence the construction of a fort and dwellings, upon
which the name of King Charles was bestowed. Thus our little
ship's-load of adventurers stood at last on the remotest shores of the
New World; all but two of them strangers in a strange land.

[Sidenote: The first Fort.]

For three days after their arrival Groseilliers and his party beheld
no savages. The work of constructing the fort went on apace. It was,
under Groseilliers' direction, made of logs, after the fashion of
those built by the traders and Jesuits in Canada; a stockade enclosing
it, as some protection from sudden attack. The experienced bushranger
deemed it best not to land the cargo until communication had been made
with the natives; and their attitude, friendly or otherwise, towards
the strangers ascertained. No great time was spent in waiting; for on
the fourth day a small band of the tribe called Nodwayes appeared,
greatly astonished at the presence of white settlers in those parts.
After a great deal of parleying, the Indians were propitiated by
Groseilliers with some trifling gifts, and the object of their
settlement made known. The Indians retired, promising to return before
the winter set in with all the furs in their possession, and also to
spread the tidings amongst the other tribes.

The autumn supply proved scanty enough; but the adventurers being well
provisioned could afford to wait until the spring.

Groseilliers' anticipations were realized; but not without almost
incredible activity on his part. He spent the summer and autumn, and
part of the ensuing winter, in making excursions into the interior. He
made treaties with the Nodwayes, the Kilistineaux, the Ottawas, and
other detachments of the Algonquin race. Solemn conclaves were held,
in which the bushranger dwelt--with that rude eloquence of which he
was master, and which both he and Radisson had borrowed from the
Indians--on the superior advantages of trade with the English. Nor did
his zeal here pause; knowing the Indian character as he did, he
concocted stories about the English King and Prince Rupert; many a
confiding savage that year enriched his pale-face vocabulary by adding
to it "Charles" and "Rupert," epithets which denoted that transcendent
twain to whom the French bushranger had transferred his labours and
his allegiance.

The winter of 1668-69 dragged its slow length along, and in due course
the ground thawed and the snow disappeared. No sooner had the spring
really arrived than strange natives began to make their appearance,
evincing a grotesque eagerness to strike bargains with the whites for
the pelts which they brought from the bleak fastnesses. By June it was
thought fit that Captain Gillam should return with the _Nonsuch_,
leaving Groseilliers and others at the fort. Gillam accordingly sailed
away with such cargo as they had been able to muster, to report to the
Prince and his company of merchants the excellent prospects afforded
by the post on Rupert's River, provided only the Indians could be made
aware of its existence, and the French trade intercepted.

  [Illustration: THE ORIGINAL CHARTER OF THE GREAT COMPANY.
   (_From a Photograph._)]

[Sidenote: Groseilliers' presence of mind.]

Chouart des Groseilliers in all his transactions with the natives
exhibited great hardihood of speech and action; and few indeed were
the occasions which caught him unawares. It happened more than once,
for instance, that some of the wandering Algonquins or Hurons
recognized in this smooth-tongued leader of the English fort the same
French trader they had known at Montreal, and the French posts on the
western lakes, and marvelled much that he who had then been loudly
crying "up King Lewis and the Fleur-de-lis," should now be found
surrounded by pale-faces of a different speech, known to be the allies
of the terrible Iroquois. Groseilliers met their exclamations with a
smile; he represented himself as profoundly dissatisfied with the
manner in which the French traders treated his friends the Indians,
causing them to travel so far and brave such perils to bring their
furs, and giving them so little in return. "Tell all your friends to
come hither," he cried, "and King Charles will give you double what
King Lewis gives."

In August, 1669, a gun was heard by Groseilliers and his English and
native companions. With great joy the bushranger ran from the fort to
the point of land commanding the Bay, thinking to welcome back Gillam
and the expected _Nonsuch_. But as the vessel came nearer he saw it
was not the _Nonsuch_, and for a moment he was dismayed, uncertain
whether or not to make himself known. But the colour of the flag she
carried reassured him; he caused a fire to be made, that the attention
of those on board might be attracted by the smoke; and was soon made
aware that his signal had been seen. The sloop headed up Rupert's
River, and a boat containing three men was lowered from her side.
Greater still was Groseilliers' joy when he recognized amongst the
approaching party in the boat his brother-in-law, Pierre Radisson.
These two sturdy children of the wilderness embraced one another with
great affection and set to work diligently to barter. The _Nonsuch_
arrived safely in the Thames in the month of August.

[Sidenote: Satisfaction of the Adventurers.]

It would be difficult to exaggerate the satisfaction of the company
of London merchants at hearing the results of their first venture.
They had taken counsel together, and considering the importance of
securing a charter of monopoly from the King to be paramount, Prince
Rupert was persuaded to use his good offices to this end.

Charles was doubtless relieved to hear that his cousin Rupert desired
no greater favour. He expressed himself ready to grant such a patent,
provided the Lord Chancellor approved. A charter was accordingly drawn
up forthwith at the instance of the Prince, in the usual form of such
charters; but the winter of 1669-70 elapsed without its having
received the royal assent. Indeed it was not until the second day of
May that Prince Rupert, presenting himself at Whitehall, received from
the King's own hands one of the most celebrated instruments which ever
passed from monarch to subject, and which, though almost incessantly
in dispute, was perpetuated in full force throughout two
centuries.[11]

[Sidenote: The Charter.]

This document was granted to Prince Rupert and seventeen nobles and
gentlemen, comprising the Duke of Albemarle,[12] Earls Craven and
Arlington, Lord Ashley,[13] Sir John Robinson, Sir Robert Vyner, Sir
Peter Colleton, Sir Edward Hungerford, Sir Paul Neele, Sir John
Griffith, Sir Philip Carteret, Knights and Baronets; James Hays, John
Kirke, Francis Wellington, William Prettyman, John Fenn, Esquires, and
John Portman, "Citizen and Goldsmith," incorporated into a company,
with the exclusive right to establish settlements and carry on trade
at Hudson's Bay. The charter recites that those adventurers having, at
their own great cost, undertaken an expedition to Hudson's Bay in
order to discover a new passage into the South Sea, and to find a
trade for furs, minerals and other commodities, and having made such
discoveries as encouraged them to proceed in their design, his Majesty
granted to them and their heirs, under the name of "The Governor and
Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay," the power
of holding and alienating lands, and the sole right of trade in
Hudson's Strait, and with the territories upon the coasts of the same.

They were authorized to get out ships of war, to erect forts, make
reprisals, and send home all English subjects entering the Bay without
their license, and to declare war and make peace with any prince or
people not Christian.

The territory described as Rupert's Land consisted of the whole region
whose waters flowed into Hudson's Bay. It was a vast tract--perhaps as
vast as Europe--how much vaster was yet to be made known, for the
breadth of the Continent of North America had not yet been even
approximately ascertained. For all the Adventurers knew the Pacific
Ocean was not distant more than one hundred miles west of the Bay.

In the same merry month of May the _Prince Rupert_ set sail from
Gravesend, conveying a new cargo, a new crew, and a newly appointed
overseer of trade, to the Company's distant dominions.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] The proportions of this inland sea are such as to give it a
prominent place among the geographical features of the world. One
thousand three hundred miles in length, by six hundred miles in
breadth, it extends over twelve degrees of latitude, and covers an
area not less than half a million square miles. Of the five basins
into which Canada is divided, that of Hudson's Bay is immeasurably the
largest, the extent of country draining into it being estimated at
three million square miles. To swell the mighty volume of its waters
there come rivers which take their rise in the Rocky Mountains on the
west, and the Labrador wilderness on the east; while southward its
river roots stretch far down below the forty-ninth parallel, reaching
even to the same lake source whence flows a stream into the Gulf of
Mexico. A passing breath of wind may determine whether the ultimate
destiny of the rain drop falling into the little lake be the bosom of
the Mexican Gulf or the chilly grasp of the Arctic ice-floe.

[10] Known afterwards as Nemiscau by the French.

[11] See Appendix.

[12] The second Duke, Charles' old friend, General George Monk, known
to all the leaders of English history as the brave restorer of the
King, afterwards created Duke of Albemarle, died in the year the
charter was granted.

[13] Lord Ashley, the ancestor of the present Earl of Shaftsbury, and
one of the ruling spirits of the reign of Charles II., will also be
remembered as the Achitophel of Dryden.

     "A man so various that he seemed to be
     Not one; but all mankind's epitome."

Arlington, another of the Honourable Adventurers, was also a member of
the celebrated Cabal.




CHAPTER V.

1668-1670.

     Danger Apprehended to French Dominion -- Intendant Talon -- Fur
     Trade Extended Westward -- News of the English Expedition
     Reaches Quebec -- Sovereign Rights in Question -- English
     Priority Established.


[Sidenote: French activity.]

Although neither the Governor, the Fur Company nor the officials of
the Most Christian King at Quebec, had responded favourably to the
proposals of Groseilliers, yet they were not long in perceiving that a
radical change in their trade policy was desirable. Representations
were made to M. Colbert and the French Court. It was even urged that
France's North American dominions were in danger, unless a more
positive and aggressive course were pursued with regard to extension.
These representations, together with the knowledge that the Dutch on
the south side of the St Lawrence and in the valley of the Hudson had
unexpectedly acknowledged allegiance to the King of England,
determined Lewis to evince a greater interest in Canadian affairs than
he had done hitherto.

Mezy was recalled, to die soon afterwards; and Daniel de Remin,
Seigneur de Courcelles, was despatched as Provincial Governor. A new
office was created, that of Intendant of Justice, Police and Finance;
and Jean Talon--a man of ability, experience and energy--was made the
first Intendant. Immediately upon his arrival, he took steps to
confirm the sovereignty of his master over the vast realms in the
West; and to set up the royal standard in the region of the Great
Lakes.

In 1668 Talon returned to France, taking with him one of those hardy
bushrangers (_coureurs de bois_) who passed nearly the whole of their
lives in the interior and in the company of the Hurons. This man seems
to have cut a very picturesque figure. He had been scalped, and bore
about his person many grim mutilations and disfigurements, to bear
witness to his adventures amongst unfriendly tribes. He accompanied
Talon in the capacity of servant or bodyguard, and appears to have had
little difficulty in making himself an object of infinite interest to
the lackeys and concierges of Paris. On the Intendant's return to
Canada, this daring personage, Peray by name, is alluded to as Talon's
most trusted adviser with regard to the western country and the tribes
inhabiting it. In one of the Intendant's letters, dated February 24th,
1669, he writes that Peray had "penetrated among the western nations
farther than any Frenchman; and had seen the copper mine on Lake
Huron. This man offers to go to that mine and explore either by sea,
or by the lake and river--such communication being supposed to exist
between Canada and the South Sea--or to the Hudson's Bay."

French activity had never been so great in the new world as in the
years between Groseilliers' departure from Quebec and the period when
the English fur-traders first came in contact with the French on the
shores of Hudson's Bay, thirteen years later.

In the summer of 1669, the active and intelligent Louis Joliet, with
an outfit of 4,000 livres, supplied him by the Intendant, penetrated
into an unknown region and exhibited the white standard of France
before the eyes of the astonished natives.

This also was the period which witnessed the exploits of La Salle, and
of Saint Lusson. Trade followed quickly on their heels. In March,
1670, five weeks before the charter was granted to the Great Company,
a party of Jesuits arriving at Sault Ste. Marie found twenty-five
Frenchmen trading there with the Indians. These traders reported that
a most lucrative traffic had sprung up in that locality. Coincident
with the tidings they thus conveyed to Talon, the Intendant learnt
from some Algonquins who had come to Quebec to trade, that two
European vessels had been seen in Hudson's Bay.

[Sidenote: Colbert and the Company.]

"After reflecting," he wrote to Colbert, "on all the nations that
might have penetrated as far north as that, I can only fall back on
the English, who, under the conduct of one named Groseilliers, in
former times an inhabitant of Canada, might possibly have attempted
that navigation, of itself not much known and not less dangerous. I
design to send by land some men of resolution to invite the
Kilistinons,[14] who are in great numbers in the vicinity of that Bay,
to come down to see us as the Ottawas do, in order that we may have
the first handling of what the savages bring us, who, acting as retail
dealers between ourselves and those natives (_i.e._, the Kilistinons),
make us pay for this roundabout way of three or four hundred leagues."

The rivalry of French and English north of the St. Lawrence had begun.
With that rivalry began also from this moment that long series of
disputes concerning the sovereignty of the whole northern territories,
which has endured down to our own generation.

[Sidenote: A much vexed controversy.]

Few historical themes have ever been argued at greater length or more
minutely than this--the priority of discovery, occupation, and active
assumption of sovereignty over those lands surrounding Hudson's Bay,
which for two centuries were to be held and ruled by the Hudson's Bay
Company. The wisest jurists, the shrewdest intellects, the most
painstaking students were destined to employ themselves for over a
century in seeking to establish by historical evidence, by tradition
and by deduction, the "rights" of the English or of the French to
those regions.

A great deal of importance has been attached to the fact that in 1627
a charter had been granted by Lewis XIII. to a number of adventurers
sent to discover new lands to the north of the River of St. Lawrence.
The clause of the charter reads as follows:--"Le fort et habitation de
Quebec, avec tout le pays de la Nouvelle France dite Canada, tant le
long des Cotes depuis la Floride que les predecesseurs Rois de Sa
Majeste ont fait habiter en rangeant les Cotes de la Mer jusqu'au
Cercle Artique pour latitude, et de longitude depuis l'Ile de
Terreneuve tirant a l'ouest au Grand Lac dit la Mer douce et au dela
que de dans les terres, et le long des Rivieres qui y passant et se
dechargent dans le fleuve dit St. Laurent, ou autrement la grande
Riviere du Canada, et dans tous les autres fleuves qui se portent a la
mer." But most writers have omitted to verify the fact that in this
charter to the French Company, the only portions of land granted to
the French Company are the lands or portions of lands which had
already been occupied by the Kings of France, and the object of the
charter was simply to give them an exclusive right of trade therein.
Thus it was clearly indicated that the charter did not go further than
the land occupied by the predecessors of Lewis XIV.

"New France was then understood to include the whole region of
Hudson's Bay, as the maps and histories of the time, English and
French, abundantly prove." This is a broad assertion, which is not
supported by the early discoverers nor by the historians of that time.
Charlevoix in his history described New France as being an exceedingly
limited territory. There is in l'Escarbot a description which shows
that at that time the whole territory known as New France extended but
a few miles on each side of the St. Lawrence. Charlevoix says
regretfully at that time that the giving up of this territory did not
amount to much, as New France was circumscribed by very narrow limits
on either side of the St Lawrence.

When an examination is made into the facts of the voyages and
expeditions alleged to have been undertaken by the French prior to
1672, it is difficult to arrive at any but a certain conclusion--that
the French claims had no foundation in fact.

It was then asserted, and long afterwards repeated, that Jean Bourdon,
the Attorney-General in 1656, explored the entire coast of Labrador
and entered Hudson's Bay. For this assertion one is unable to find any
historical support; certainly no record of any kind exists of such a
voyage. There is a record in 1655, it is true, that Sieur Bourdon,
then Attorney-General, was authorized to make a discovery of _Mer du
Nord_; and in order to comply with that _arrét_ of the Sovereign
Council at Quebec, he actually made an attempt at such discovery.
Bourdon left Quebec on May 2nd, 1657, and an entry in the records
proves his return on August 11th of the same year. It is manifestly
impossible that such a voyage could have been accomplished between
these dates. But a reference to this business in the Jesuit relations
of the succeeding year is sufficiently convincing.[15]

It is there recorded that on the "11th of August, there appeared the
barque of M. Bourdon, which having descended the Grand River on the
north side, sailed as far as the 55th degree, where it encountered a
great bank of ice, which caused it to return, having lost two Hurons
that it had taken as guides. The Esquimaux savages of the north
massacred them and wounded a Frenchman with three arrows and one cut
with a knife."

Another statement employed to strengthen the French claim to
sovereignty was, that Father Dablon and Sieur de Valiere were ordered
in 1661 to proceed to the country about Hudson's Bay, and that they
accordingly went thither. All accounts available to the historian
agree that the worthy father never reached the Bay.

[Sidenote: La Couture's mythical voyage.]

Another assertion equally long-lived and equally ill-founded, was to
the effect that one Sieur La Couture, with five men, proceeded
overland to the Bay, and there took possession of it in the King's
name. There is no account of this voyage in _Charlevoix_, or in the
"Relations des Jesuites," or in the memoir furnished by M. de
Callieres to the Marquis de Denonville. This memoir, which was penned
in 1685, or twenty-one years after the time of which it treated, set
forth that La Couture made the journey for purposes of discovery.
Under the circumstances, particularly owing to the strong necessity
under which the French were placed to find some shadow of right for
their pretensions, M. de Callieres' memoir has been declared
untrustworthy by competent authorities.

  [Illustration: ENGLISH MAP OF 1782.]

In 1663, Sieur Duquet, the King's Attorney for Quebec, and Jean
L'Anglois, a Canadian colonist, are said to have gone to Hudson's Bay
by order of Sieur D'Argenson, and to have renewed possession by
setting up the King's arms there a second time. Such an order could
hardly have been given by D'Argenson, because he had left Canada on
September 16th, 1671, two years before this pretended order was given
to Sieur Duquet.

[Sidenote: French falsehoods and fallacies.]

It has been attempted to explain the silence of the "Relations of the
Jesuits" concerning Bourdon's voyage, by asserting that they were
naturally anxious that members of their own society should be the
pioneers in discovery, and that therefore many important discoveries
were never brought to light in their relations because they were not
made by Jesuits. It is enough to say that such an argument cannot
apply to the voyage of Dablon. He was a Jesuit, a man in whom the
interests of the society were centred, and if a voyage had been made
by him, no doubt a great deal of prominence would have been given to
it. On the contrary, in the third volume of the "Jesuit Relations,"
1662, we find this Jesuit, Father Dablon, describing an unsuccessful
voyage that he made. There can be no doubt that he attempted a voyage.
A portion of this relation is written by himself, and he calls it,
"Journal du Premier Voyage Fait Vers la Mer du Nord." The first
portion of it is most important and conclusive, as showing that De
Callieres, in his memoir to M. De Seignely, twenty-one years
afterwards, must have been speaking from hearsay, and without any
authentic documents on which to base his assertions. Dablon says that
the highest point which he did reach was Nekauba, a hundred leagues
from Tadoussac, and that subsequently he returned; and this is from a
report of this journey written by himself. Some have attempted to
raise a doubt as to the identity of the Dablon in De Callieres'
memoir, with the Dablon of the "Relations des Jesuites." But at the
end of one of the volumes is a complete list of all the Jesuits,
pioneers both of the faith and in the way of discovery, and there is
only one Dablon mentioned. Another inaccuracy of this memoir is as to
the trip of Duquet, under an order said to have been given by Sieur
D'Argenson. There can be no doubt that at the time this pretended
order was given, D'Argenson had left Canada.

On the whole it may be as well for the reader to dismiss the French
pretensions. They are no longer of interest, save to the
hair-splitting student of the country's annals: but in their day they
gave rise to a wilderness of controversy, through which we in the
twentieth century may yet grope vainly for the light. For all
practical purposes the question of priority was settled forever by the
Ontario Boundary Commission of 1884. Let us turn rather to behold to
what account the Honourable Adventurers turned their new property.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Kristineaux, Crees.

[15] Jean Bourdon was of the Province of Quebec; he was well known to
the Jesuits and trusted by them. He subsequently accompanied Father
Jacques on an embassy to Governor Dongan, the Governor of the Province
of New York.

In Shea's _Charlevoix_, Vol. III, pp. 39, 40, it is stated that Père
Dablon attempted to penetrate to the northern ocean by ascending the
Saguenay. Early in June, two months after they set out, they found
themselves at the head of the Nekauba river, 300 miles from Lake St.
John. Warned of the approach of the Iroquois, they dared not proceed
farther. In the New York Historical Documents (p. 97) there is an
account of Dablon from the time of his arrival in Canada in 1655. He
was immediately sent missionary to Onondaga, where he continued with a
brief interval until 1658. In 1661 he set out overland for Hudson's
Bay, but succeeded only in reaching the head waters of the Nekauba,
300 miles from Lac St. Jean.




CHAPTER VI.

1671.

     First Public Sale at Garraway's -- Contemporary Prices of Fur
     -- The Poet Dryden -- Meetings of the Company -- Curiosity of
     the Town -- Aborigines on View.


On the seventeenth day of November, 1671, the wits, beaux and
well-to-do merchants who were wont to assemble at Garraway's
coffee-house, London, were surprised by a placard making the following
announcement:--"On the fifth of December, ensuing, There Will Be Sold,
in the Greate Hall of this Place, 3,000 weight of Beaver Skins,[16]
comprised in thirty lotts, belonging to the Honourable, the Governour
and Company of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay."

  [Illustration: THE BEAVER.]

Such was the notice of the first official sale of the Company. Up to
this date, the peltries brought back in their ships had been disposed
of by private treaty, an arrangement entrusted chiefly to Mr. John
Portman and Mr. William Prettyman, both of whom appear to have had
considerable familiarity with the European fur-trade. The immediate
occasion of this sale is a trivial matter. The causes lying behind it
are of interest.

Among the numerous houses which cured and dealt in furs at this
period, both in London and Bristol, there were none whose business
seems to have been comparable, either in quantity or quality, to that
of the great establishments which flourished in Leipsic and Amsterdam,
Paris and Vienna. Indeed, it was a reproach continually levelled at
the English fur-dressers that such furs as passed through their hands
were vastly inferior to the foreign product; and it is certain that it
was the practice of the nobles and wealthier classes, as well as the
municipal and judicial dignitaries, for whose costume fur was
prescribed by use and tradition, to resort not to any English
establishment, but to one of the cities above-mentioned, when desirous
of replenishing this department of their wardrobe. Hitherto, then, the
Company had had but little opportunity of extending its trade, and but
little ground to show why an intending purchaser should patronize its
wares. But the superiority both in the number and quality of the skins
which now began to arrive seems to have encouraged the directors to
make a new bid for public custom; and as the purchasing public showed
no disposition to visit their warehouses they determined to take their
wares to the public.

[Sidenote: First sale well attended.]

This sale of the Company, however, the first, as it subsequently
proved, of a series of great transactions which during the past two
centuries have made London the centre of the world's fur-trade, did
not take place until the twenty-fourth of January. It excited the
greatest interest. Garraway's was crowded by distinguished men, and
both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, besides Dryden, the
poet, were among the spectators. There are some lines attributed to
him, under date of 1672, which may have been improvised on this
occasion.

     "Friend, once 'twas Fame that led thee forth
     To brave the Tropic Heat, the Frozen North,
     Late it was Gold, then Beauty was the Spur;
     But now our Gallants venture but for Fur."

A number of purchases seem to have been made by private parties; but
the bulk of the undressed beaver-skins probably went to fur merchants,
and there is good reason to believe that the majority found their way
into the hands of Portman and Prettyman. Beaver seems on this occasion
to have fetched from thirty-five to fifty-five shillings--a high
figure, which for a long time was maintained. But the Company showed
considerable sagacity by not parting with its entire stock of furs at
once. Only the beaver-skins were disposed of at this sale; the
peltries of moose, marten, bear and otter were reserved for a separate
and subsequent auction.

[Sidenote: Meeting at John Horth's.]

Prior to its incorporation, and for a year afterwards, the Company
does not seem to have pursued any formal course with regard to its
meetings. At first, they met at the Tower, at the Mint, or at Prince
Rupert's house in Spring Garden. Once or twice they met at Garraway's.
But at a conclave held on November 7th, 1671, it was resolved that a
definite procedure should be established with regard both to the time
and place of meeting, and to the keeping of the minutes and accounts.
These latter, it was ordered, were forthwith to be rendered weekly to
the General Court, so that the adventurers might be conversant with
all sales, orders and commissions included in the Company's dealings.
Employees' accounts were also to be posted up; and the same regulation
was applied to the lists of goods received for the two ships then
lying in the Thames. It was further decreed that the weekly meetings
should take place at Mr. John Horth's office, "The Excise Office," in
Broad Street, pending the building of a "Hudson's Bay House."

Soon afterwards, a "General Court" of the adventurers was held, at
which the Prince, Lord Ashley, Sir John Robinson, Sir Peter Colleson,
Sir Robert Viner, Mr. Kirke and Mr. Portman were in attendance. We
catch a thoroughly typical glimpse of Prince Rupert at this meeting;
sober business was not at all to his taste, and at a very early stage
in the proceedings he feigned either indisposition or another
appointment, and took his departure. A hint, however, may possibly
have been given to him to do so, for, no sooner was the door closed
behind him, than his friend Lord Ashley introduced a very delicate
topic which was entered into by all those present. It concerned
nothing less than Prince Rupert's profits, which up to this time seem
to have been very vaguely defined.

Lord Ashley spoke for the Prince and he seems to have demanded some
definite payment besides a share in the enterprise; but there is no
record of an agreement or of any exact sum, nor is there any basis for
the conjecture that his share was ten thousand pounds. The charter of
monopoly was an important one, and the King certainly not the man to
fail in appreciating its value; but how much he did out of good will
to his kinsman, and how much out of consideration for his own profit,
will never be known. A perusal of the vast quantity of manuscript
matter which exists relating to this arrangement leads to the
conclusion that Charles sold the charter out of hand. And indeed one
pamphleteer, intent on defaming the Company in 1766, even goes so far
as to profess actual knowledge of the sum paid to his Majesty by the
adventurers. Upon a consideration of all the speculations advanced, I
have come to the conclusion that it is highly improbable that the King
received any immediate pecuniary advantage whatever on account of the
charter. There is no shadow of evidence to support the charge; and
there is at least some presumptive evidence against it. Charters were
both commonly and cheaply given in those days. Even where
consideration was given, the amount was insignificant. In 1668, for
example, Charles transferred the province of Bombay, which had come to
the British Crown as portion of the dower of Catherine of Braganza, to
the East India Company for an annual rent of no more than £10. On the
whole then the data, such as they are, strongly favour the belief that
he granted the charter simply in the cause of friendship and at the
urgent instance of his cousin; while, as an additional motive, it was
probably also urged upon him that a charter boasting the royal
signature would be a virtual assertion of his dominion over territory
which was always somewhat in dispute.

Prince Rupert himself in any case was paid a lump sum by the
adventurers, but the amount will probably never be known.

The early meetings of the Company seem to have been largely occupied
in considering the question of cargoes. This was, no doubt, a very
important business. The Company appear to have had two precedents
which, in part, they naturally adopted, those of the Dutch (or West
India Company) and the French Company. The East India Company's
practice could have afforded them little assistance. They also struck
out a line for themselves, and in their selection of goods for the
purposes of barter they were greatly guided by the advice of Radisson,
who had a very sound conception of the Indian character. From the
first the Company rejected the policy of seeking to exchange glass
beads and gilded kickshaws for furs. Not that they found it
inexpedient to include these trifles in their cargoes: for we read in
one of the news-letters of 1671, speaking of the doings at
Garraway's:--

"Hither came Mr. Portman, to whom, reports says, is entrusted the
purchase of beads and ribbons for the American savages by the new
Adventurers, and who is charged with being in readiness to bargain for
sackfuls of child's trinkets as well as many outlandish things, which
are proper for barter. He takes the rallying in great good-humour."

[Sidenote: Solid character of the merchandise.]

Long before the Company was thought of, the manufacture of beads and
wampum for the New England trade had been going on in London. But
beads and jewellery, it was argued, were better suited for the African
and East Indian trade. It was Radisson who pointed out with great
propriety that the northern tribes would become most useful to the
Company if they were provided with weapons for killing or ensnaring
the game, as well as with the knives, hatchets and kettles, which were
indispensable for dressing it, and for preparing pemmican. And his
advice was taken on this, as on most other points. Thus for the
_Prince Rupert_ and the _Imploy_, which were to sail in the following
spring, the following cargo was prescribed by Radisson and Captain
Gillam:--

       500 fowling pieces, and powder and shot in proportion.
       500 brass kettles, 2 to 16 gallons apiece.
        30 gross of knives.
     2,000 hatchets.

But it is curious to note how this list of exports was continually
added to. For instance, one of the Company on one occasion rose at the
weekly meeting and stated that he had been told by an experienced
Indian trader that scarlet cloth was very highly esteemed among the
Indians.

"I hear," said he, "that an Indian will barter anything he possesses
for a couple of yards of scarlet cloth and a few dyed feathers."

Whereupon, the chairman turned to the original adventurer in the
region controlled by the Company.

"What does Mr. Radisson say to this?"

"I think," said Mr. Radisson, "that the honourable adventurer does not
understand the Indian trade as well as I do. He forgets that Indians
are of many races; and that what will suit the case and attract the
cupidity of an Indian far to the south, will have little effect on the
northern tribes. An Iroquois would think more of a brass nail than of
twenty yards of scarlet cloth. In the north, where we have built a
factory, the Indians are more peaceful; but they do not care much for
kickshaws and coloured rags. They, too, esteem powder and shot and the
means of discharging them. But they are just as fond, particularly
Eskimaux, of knives and kettles and hatchets."

On a subsequent occasion, a third as many again of these implements
were taken as cargo.

[Sidenote: Ships besieged by peddlers.]

In the meantime, it was not to be supposed that the rumours of the
great value put upon petty merchandise by the hyperborean savages,
could fail to excite the cupidity of London merchants and dealers in
these things. The ships that sailed in the spring of 1671 were
besieged by peddlers and small dealers, who were prepared to
adventure their property in the wilds. Not only the ships, but the
houses selected for the Company's meetings were beset with eager
throngs, praying the adventurers, collectively and individually, to
act as middlemen for their trumpery merchandise.

Not only did the ships and the place of meeting suffer siege, but as
many as thirty persons shipped out to Hudson's Bay in the first two
voyages after the granting of the charter, while twenty-one of them
returned in the next two vessels fully determined, apparently, to
repeat a journey which had proved so lucrative.

To abate this nuisance, it was enacted that no persons would
"hereafter be employed to stay in the country or otherwise but by
consent of the Committee, nor any goods be put aboard the ships but
with their knowledge and consent, to the end that the ships be not
hereafter pestered as they were the last voyage."

This enactment may have had its rise in the dishonesty of these
self-appointed adventurers. On several occasions on unshipping the
cargo, boxes and barrels containing valuable furs would be found
missing, or their loss would coincide with the disappearance of a
reprobate who had joined the ship without a character.

Thus we read in the minutes that at one meeting it was ordered that
enquiry be made as to sixty beaver skins, "very good and large, packed
up with the others, in one of the casks, which were not found." One
Jeremiah Walker, a second mate and supercargo was required to state
which cask they were taken in, and his cross-examination reveals the
loose and unbusiness-like methods then in vogue.

Nothing could be more entertaining than the character of these
meetings, as compared with a modern board-meeting of a joint stock
enterprise. A great air of mystery was kept up. The novelty of the
undertaking was so great as to imbue the committee with a high sense
of the importance and interest of their weekly conclaves. The length
of the speeches bears witness to this spirit. A member had been known
to speak for a whole hour on the edifying theme as to whether the furs
should be placed in barrels or boxes.

  [Illustration: ARMS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.]

Vague rumours of these secret proceedings permeated the town. They
became a standing topic at the places where men foregathered. To the
popular imagination, the north was a land of fable. The denizens of
those countries were invested with strange attributes and clothed in
weird and wonderful garments. The Hudson's Bay Company dealt with
picturesque monarchs and a fierce, proud and noble people, whose
ordinary attire was the furs of sable, of ermine, of fox, and of
otter; who made treaties and exacted tributes after the fashion of the
ceremonial East. Petty chiefs and sachems were described as kings and
emperors; the wretched squaws of a redskin leader as queens. It was,
perhaps, only natural for a generation which banqueted its imagination
on the seductive fable of a North-West Passage to confuse the Red
Indians of North America with the inhabitants of the East; a very long
period was to pass away before the masses were able to distinguish
between the tawny-skinned Indian of the North American continent and
the swarthy servants of the East India Company. Nor were the masses
alone sinners in this respect. The Indians of Dryden, of Congreve, of
Steele, and even of writers so late as Goldsmith no more resembled the
real Red-men than the bison of the western prairies was akin to the
buffalo of the Himalayas.

For such reasons as these, the Adventurers kept their ways and their
superior knowledge with superior discretion to themselves.

[Sidenote: Capital of the Company.]

It was never known in the seventeenth century what actually
constituted the original capital of the Adventurers. So small was it
that when, in the course of the Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry in
1749, nearly eighty years after the Company had received its charter,
the figures were divulged, the pettiness of the sum occasioned
universal surprise. Each adventurer was apparently required to pay
£300, sterling; and the gross sum was divided into thirty-four equal
shares. Besides Prince Rupert's "sundry charges" (the euphemism
employed to describe the sum paid him for his interest in obtaining
the charter), his Highness was offered a share amounting to one equal
share. "He having graciously signified his acceptance thereof," says
the secretary in the minute-book, "credit given him for three hundred
pounds." The capital thus stood at £10,500.

FOOTNOTE:

[16] The beaver, amphibious and intelligent, had for centuries a
considerable place in commerce: and also a celebrity of its own as the
familiar synonym for the common covering of a man's head, and here the
animal becomes historic. By royal proclamation in 1638, Charles I., of
England, prohibited the use of any material in the manufacture of hats
"except beaver stuff or beaver wool." This proclamation was the
death-warrant of beavers innumerable, sacrificed to the demands of the
trade.




CHAPTER VII.

1671-1673.

     Mission of the Père Albanel -- Apprehension at Fort Charles --
     Bailey's Distrust of Radisson -- Expedition to Moose River --
     Groseilliers and the Savages -- The Bushrangers Leave the
     Company's Service -- Arrival of Governor Lyddal.


While the Honourable Company of Adventurers was holding its meetings
in Mr. Alderman Horth's house, and gravely discussing its huge profits
and its motley wares, an event was happening some thousands of miles
away which was to decide the fate, for some years at least, of the two
picturesque figures to whom the inception of the whole enterprise was
due.

In August, 1671, M. Talon, the Intendant of New France, sent for a
certain Father Albanel and a young friend of his, the Sieur de St.
Simon, and after embracing them sent both forth on a perilous mission
to the North. They were directed to "penetrate as far as the Mer du
Nord; to draw up a memoir of all they would discover, drive a trade in
fur with the Indians, and especially reconnoitre whether there be any
means of wintering ships in that quarter." Such were the injunctions
bestowed upon these hardy spirits on the eve of their errand. To recur
to a theme already touched upon, if the French Government of the day
had previously caused visits to be made to Hudson's Bay in the manner
described several years later, all this knowledge would have been
already acquired; and there would have been no necessity to despatch
either priest or layman thither to make that discovery anew.

[Sidenote: Father Albanel's journey.]

In the "Jesuit Relations" for 1672 is found Father Albanel's own
narration of his journey:

"Hitherto this voyage had been considered impossible for Frenchmen,
who, after having undertaken it three times and not having been able
to surmount the obstacles, had seen themselves to abandon it in
despair of success. What appears as impossible is found not to be so
when it pleases God. The conduct of it was reserved to me after
eighteen years' prosecution that I had made, and I have very excellent
proofs that God reserved the execution of it for me, after the
singular favour of a sudden and marvellous, not to say miraculous,
recovery that I received as soon as I devoted myself to this mission
at the solicitation of my Superior; and in fact I have not been
deceived in my expectation; I have opened the road, in company with
two Frenchmen and six savages." Thus it is made apparent that so far
as the Jesuits, pioneers of this country, were concerned, no knowledge
of any of their compatriots having penetrated to Hudson's Bay had ever
reached them. The letter that M. Talon was writing to his royal master
is proof that he, too, was unaware of any prior discovery. No doubt
remains that the worthy priest and the young chevalier, his servant,
were the first party travelling overland from Quebec to penetrate into
those regions and to behold that vast expanse of water.

The little band of English at Fort Charles, under Charles Bailey, who
had been sent out as Governor of Rupert's Land by the Company, were
soon made aware of the proximity of the French, and no one seems to
have been more affected by the news than Radisson and Groseilliers.
The two brothers-in-law indulged in many anxious surmises. Radisson
offered to go and find out who the intruders were, but the Governor by
no means favoured the idea. In those days, when national rivalries and
prejudices were so intense, and especially so among the English middle
classes, Bailey seems to have felt a great deal of distrust with
regard to the two Frenchmen; and he early made up his mind to let them
know his opinion and feel his authority. The two parties were
continually at loggerheads; the Frenchmen naturally resenting the
Governor's unjust suspicions, and the Governor retorting by a
ponderous irony and a surly and continual surveillance of their speech
and movements.

[Sidenote: Rivals on the scene.]

In the following year, 1673, the occupants of the Company's post, at
Rupert's River, were made aware of the neighbourhood of their trade
rivals in no pleasant manner. The Indians of the country round about
began to show signs of disaffection. On being questioned, some of the
more friendly ones were induced to betray the cause. They had been
informed by the Frenchmen, who in that and the previous years had
reached the shores of the Bay, distant some twenty or thirty leagues,
that the English were not to be trusted, that their firearms were
bewitched, and their religion was that of the evil one. Peaceably
inclined, the Nodwayes, who were the principal inhabitants of that
region, fell an easy prey to the proselytism of the indomitable
Jesuits, and many of their younger braves had journeyed to Quebec and
taken part in the mission services there, and at Montreal, before the
arrival of Dablon in their midst. But they were readily adaptable to
the racial and commercial antagonisms of their teachers; and late in
1673 Governor Bailey was informed that they contemplated an attack on
the fort.

  [Illustration: TYPE OF EARLY TRADING POST.
   (_From an old print._)]

On this, the Company's servants began the task of strengthening their
frail defences. The Governor alleged that he had received instructions
from England to despatch Groseilliers to the other side of the Bay,
called the "West Main." Radisson sought to accompany his kinsman, but
was met with a peremptory refusal. This action by no means increased
the amity between him and his rather stupid and choleric superior.
Nevertheless the winter passed without any open exhibition of
hostility between the two men; and it seemed likely that no
difficulties would arise while the cold weather continued. The ground
was, however, still covered with snow when several Indians appeared
and asked to be allowed to take up their abode at the east end of the
fort, that they might be ready for trade in the spring. Bailey, with
his customary sagacity in such matters, suspected some treachery in
this; but on the active expostulations of Radisson the simple request
was granted, and the Indians immediately proceeded to erect their
wigwams. On the 25th of March, when the thaw commenced, six savages,
announcing themselves as ambassadors from Kas-Kidi-dah, the chief of
the tribe, (referred to by Bailey's secretary as "King Cusciddidah,")
came to herald the approach of that potentate. It so chanced that both
the Governor and Radisson were absent, having gone out to reconnoitre
and to obtain an addition to their now slender stock of meat. In all
these little expeditions the Governor and Radisson were inseparable.
The former swore privately he could never bring himself to trust the
fort in the hands of a Frenchman; and, although there was no reason
whatever to apprehend such consequences, the Governor constantly acted
as if any such show of confidence on his part would emphatically
jeopardize the interests of the Company.

[Sidenote: Governor Bailey's distrust.]

King Cusciddidah arrived on the following day. "His Majestie brought a
retinue with him," records Thomas Gorst, the Governor's secretary,
"but very little beaver, the Indians having already sent their best to
Canada."

In the absence of the Governor, the occupants of the fort regarded
Captain Cole as their superior. Cole did not place much confidence in
the pacific mien of the savages surrounding the fort, and a guard was
kept up night and day. Under cover of darkness two sailors were
despatched to find the Governor; but scarcely had they departed on
their quest than Cusciddidah proposed that two of his Indians should
go on the same errand. The acting commandant of the fort could not
well decline this offer, and on the 31st of March the second party
returned, bringing with them the Governor. To the surprise of all
Radisson did not accompany him. No explanation was offered; but the
next day the rumour ran that they had quarrelled in the wilderness,
that from words they came to blows, and that finally Radisson had
attempted to shoot the Governor.

Filled with a natural alarm, Groseilliers made several attempts to
obtain from Bailey the true story of the affair, but the Governor
declined to affirm or confirm anything, saying that he had no doubt
Groseilliers knew quite as much of the matter as himself.
Groseilliers' anxiety, however, was considerably lessened when at a
formal conference with the Indian king, held at the latter's wigwams
near the fort, he learnt that the French had made a settlement not
above eight days' journey from Rupert's River. Hither, in effect,
Radisson had repaired; and afterwards from thence made his way back to
Quebec. Of his subsequent adventures mention will be made later in the
narrative.

[Sidenote: First French rivalry.]

Cusciddidah openly demanded the English protection. He declared his
apprehension of being attacked by other Indians, whom the French had
animated against the English and all who dealt with them. He even gave
a description of the fort the French had erected on the banks of Moose
River, and the contents of its store-house. Already the French were
resorting to many artifices to hinder the natives from trading with
the heretic pale-faces; they gave higher value for the furs brought
them, and lost no opportunity of instilling into the minds of the
Indians a far from flattering opinion of their trade rivals, the
English.

One hearer received these tidings with complete equanimity. That which
surprised and confounded his companions, filled the bosom of Chouart
des Groseilliers with a secret joy. The Governor's high-handed
deportment had oppressed, if it had not angered him; and he had,
together with his brother-in-law, begun to suspect that this policy of
enmity was dictated by a desire to rid himself and the Company of
them both. But in the proximity of the French he found a weapon of
great utility in his relations with the Governor, his superior
officer.

On the third of April a council was held, to debate upon the
advisability of the Company's agents removing from Rupert's to Moose
River, thus to prevent their traffic being intercepted by the French.
The Governor adopted a tone of great cordiality towards Groseilliers,
and listened with deference to his advice. Groseilliers boldly
counselled giving up the present fort and establishing themselves
close to the French. Bailey, much to Captain Cole's astonishment,
instantly approved of the plan. In vain did Cole protest against the
course as dangerous; the Governor professed his confidence in
Groseilliers' wisdom, and ordered the sloop to be got ready for the
journey.

  [Illustration: BARK CANOE OF INDIANS ON HUDSON'S BAY.]

In the meantime the Indians in the neighbourhood of Fort Charles
continued building their wigwams. They raised their wauscohegein or
fort so near the English that the palisades joined. As their numbers
increased, Groseilliers advised putting off their own expedition until
the savages were gone hunting, so that Fort Charles and those left in
charge might not be surprised in their absence. On the 20th of May,
seven canoes containing more subjects of Cusciddidah arrived, bringing
the news to the English that few, if any, Upland Indians might be
expected to visit them that season, the French having persuaded them
to journey with their goods to Canada instead. Indeed, said they, the
tribes had already left, so that even if the English expedition were
made, it would be fruitless.

At this depressing intelligence Bailey again sought Groseilliers'
advice, and this being still in favour of advancing to Moose River, it
was adopted. Before the departure, on the 27th of May, a band of about
fifty men, women and children appeared, anxious to trade; but instead
of furs they offered wampum, feathers, and a few small canoes, for
none of which merchandise the Company's agents had need. They were of
the nation called Pishapocanoes, a tribe allied to the Esquimaux, and
like them, a "poor, beggarly people; by which," adds one of the party,
"we may perceive the French ran away with the best of the trade."

Everything being now in readiness, the expedition started, but without
Bailey. The Governor, at the last moment, decided to remain behind at
Fort Charles and await their return.

[Sidenote: First visit to Moose River.]

The voyage across the Bay was made in safety, and on the very day of
landing at the mouth of Moose River, a band of Tabiti Indians were
encountered, from whom they obtained about two hundred pelts. The
chief of this band denied that the French had bribed them or the other
Indians not to trade with the English. They declared that as yet their
intercourse had been almost entirely with the Jesuits, one of whom was
Father Albanel, who had merely urged them to live on terms of
friendship with the nations in league with the French. The chief
blamed the English for trading with such pitiful tribes as
Cusciddidah's and the Pishapocanoes, advising them instead to settle
at Moose River, where, he asserted, the Upland Indians would come and
trade with them.

One curious incident occurred in the course of this parley. The Tabiti
chief, who had been for some time looking rather sharply at
Groseilliers, suddenly broke off the intercourse. When Captain Cole
demanded the reason, the chief declared that it was on Groseilliers'
account, whom he had recognized as the Frenchman with whom he had had
dealings many years before. Groseilliers, nothing loth, stepped
forward, and declared that the chief might possess himself in easiness
on that score, as he was now to all intents and purposes an
Englishman; and that he would always trade with the Tabitis as such.

"But you drove hard bargains," returned the chief. "You took our
silkiest, softest and richest furs, and you gave us but beads and
ribbons. You told us the skins of the sable, and marten, and beaver
were of little account to you, whereas the English give us, and the
French traders as well, guns and hatchets in exchange."

This harangue does not seem to have particularly disconcerted
Groseilliers; he was an old Indian trader; he returned a polite
answer, renewing his expressions of amity. Nevertheless, it made a
profound impression upon the other members of the party, who reported
to Bailey on their return that the Indians thought Groseilliers too
hard on them, and refused to deal with him. Indeed, they did not
scruple to assert that the comparative failure of their expedition was
owing to Groseilliers' presence; that both the Tabitis and the
Shechittiwans, hard by, were really possessed of peltries which they
chose to conceal.

[Sidenote: Bailey at Moose River.]

On hearing this intelligence, Bailey himself was induced to set out
for Moose River. By rare good fortune, he found the Tabitis reinforced
by a numerous band of Shechittiwans, who had journeyed thither some
fifty leagues and were eager to trade. From this tribe, the Governor
procured no fewer than fifteen hundred skins on very good terms.
Charmed with his adventure, he decided to pursue his course, discover
the Chechouan River, and thence coast along the west shore of the Bay,
to Port Nelson, where there was, as yet, no fort.

On the 18th of July, he arrived at Chechouan River, "where no
Englishman had been before," but secured little or no beaver. He
treated with the chief of the tribe he found there and with his son,
who exacted from him a promise that he would come with a ship and
trade the next year. In return, they assured him they would provide a
quantity of beaver and induce the Upland tribes to travel thence.
Hardly had the sloop departed than, on the 27th, it ran upon a mass of
floating ice and narrowly escaped foundering. This catastrophe
precipitated the Governor's return to Rupert's River. He arrived to
find Groseilliers and his protégé Gorst at daggers drawn, and the
factors, traders and sailors almost at the point of mutiny, and all
this because they objected to serve under a Frenchman.

[Sidenote: Jesuit priest at Fort Charles.]

Bailey now seems to have made up his mind what course to pursue with
regard to Groseilliers; but if anything were wanting to complete his
decision, he had not long to wait. On the next day but one, that is to
say the 30th of August, a messenger came to him to announce the
arrival of a canoe. In it was a Jesuit missionary, accompanied by one
of Cusciddidah's own sons. The worthy priest was in a sorry condition
with regard to his apparel, most of which he had either been robbed of
or been compelled to barter for food during his long sojourn in the
wilderness. He had left Quebec during the preceding October, but had
been detained for many months owing to the impassability of the route.
He bore with him letters; one of them for Mr. Bailey from the Governor
of Quebec. This epistle seems to have given Bailey a great deal of
pleasure, and as a communication from one great man to another, he
caused it to be publicly read out in the fort. The French Governor
desired Bailey to treat the priest civilly "on account of the amity
between the two crowns"; and the bearer of this letter had no reason
to complain of a lack of hospitality. He was clothed and entertained
with great kindness.

Unhappily, on the very evening of his arrival, the Governor was made
aware that the Jesuit had brought other letters, and that these had
been delivered into the hands of Groseilliers. Always suspicious, he
now became convinced of treachery. He saw in this harmless visit of a
pious missionary a deep-laid plot to capture the fort and allow it to
be pillaged by the hostile Indians. He ordered Groseilliers to appear
before him. But Groseilliers was not to be found, and Gorst returned
to say that both the Frenchmen were out walking together. Bailey,
taking several men with him, now went himself in search of the pair;
he confronted Groseilliers, and hurled a host of accusations at his
head. To these accusations, all ill-founded and ill-advised,
Groseilliers very promptly responded by knocking the Governor down. He
then returned calmly to the fort, demanded his wages and possessions,
and calling three of the Indians to his side, including the young
brave who had accompanied the priest, set off valiantly into the
wilderness. In due time he reached Quebec, where he rendered a
faithful account to the authorities of what had transpired. He also
forwarded to England, by way of New England, a minute account of his
experiences, which was duly read out at one of the meetings of the
Company.

The Jesuit, who had offered to proceed with Groseilliers, had been
detained. He seems to have made himself very useful to the English in
their dealings with the Indians, although he was thoroughly
distrusted, as was to be expected, by the Governor.

[Sidenote: Arrival of the "Prince Rupert."]

On the 24th of September, a sloop was descried in the river, which,
with joy, they soon made out to be the _Prince Rupert_, just arrived
from England. She was commanded by Captain Gillam, and with her came
the new Governor, William Lyddal, to supersede Bailey. Captain Gillam
reported that the sister-ship, the _Shaftesbury_, commanded by Captain
Shepherd, was likewise at the mouth of the river. The new Governor's
commission and instructions being read, all hands were immediately put
to work, with the intention of unloading and reloading the ships for
the return voyage immediately. Bailey seems to have expressed the
greatest anxiety to proceed to London without delay; but at length he
was induced to listen to reason. It was pointed out to him that the
season would be far spent before the work of equipment could be
properly concluded. After several councils, it was resolved that they
should winter at Rupert's River; and no effort was made to unload the
vessels until the following spring. In the meantime, the crews were
not idle. Under Lyddal's direction they found employment in cutting
timber and building houses, more particularly a bake-house and a
brew-house, which latter added greatly to the comfort of the fort.




CHAPTER VIII.

1673-1682.

     Progress of the Company -- Confusion as to the Names and Number
     of the Tribes -- Radisson goes to Paris -- His Efforts to
     Obtain Support there, and from Prince Rupert, in England, Fail
     -- Arrival of M. de la Chesnaye -- With his help Radisson
     Secures Support -- And Sails for Quebec -- Thence Proceeds with
     Two Ships to Attack the English Ports in Hudson's Bay -- His
     Encounters with Gillam's Expedition from London, and his Son's,
     from New England.


Rapidly advancing in prosperity and reputation, and possessed of a
basis of credit which gave it a welcome sense of solidity, the Company
now renewed its efforts to extend its trade and settlements. The
weekly meetings in Mr. John Horth's house, which were so full of
mystery to the public, continued to bear fruit; and at length a
regular system was determined for the organization and government of
its distant dependencies.

[Sidenote: Ignorance of the geography of Hudson's Bay.]

All ships bound for Hudson's Bay were now ordered to visit Charlton
Island, which lies about forty miles from the mouth of Rupert's River,
in the extreme south of the Bay; and the island was also made a
rendezvous whither all factors were to bring all their merchandise for
the purpose of loading the Company's ships. The geography of the
district had hitherto, in spite of the researches of a long series of
explorers, beginning with Frobisher, and ending with Fox, remained
obscure. But the Company's servants had not been idle, and the
Adventurers were soon in possession of carefully drawn charts, and
maps of the straits, the Bay itself, and the lands surrounding it.
They kept themselves also well-advised by lists, drawings, and
detailed descriptions, of the tribes inhabiting the territories
granted to them under the charter; and the discussions which went on
over this subject were not lacking in humour. It is worth observing
that for a great many years during the early history of the Company,
its Governors, captains, chief factors, chief traders, and the rank
and file of its employees could never by any chance agree, either as
to the number or the characteristics of the aborigines. In concocting
their reports many were animated purely by love of romance: others
relied too implicitly on the tales told by the Indians themselves;
others may be credited with being the victims of their own
imaginations. Nor could the lists enumerating the tribes boast more
consistency. Extracts from those of two governors may be given here
for purposes of comparison:--

     NATIONS VISITING HUDSON'S BAY.

     Bailey, 1673:      Lyddal, 1678:

     Esquemos,          Askimows,
     Nodwayes,          Odwayes,
     Twegwayes,         Twagions,
     Pankeshones,       Paggarshows,
     Noridgewelks,      Narchuels,
     Abenekays,         Penkayes,
     Micmacks,          Micmackes,
     Kilistinons,       Crilistinons,
     Assinapoils,       Ossa-poets,
     Cuchneways,        Kitchenayes,
     Algonkins,         Algonkings,
     Outaways,          Otawayes,
     Outagamis.         Wattagamais.

No wonder, therefore, that the Adventurers in England were puzzled,
and that at one of their later meetings Prince Rupert was forced to
exclaim:

"Gentlemen, these Indians" (each member had been supplied with
Governor Nixon's list) "are not our Indians. 'Fore God, out of the
nineteen I see only five we have dealt with before."

Another worthy member declared, on a similar occasion that the tribes
frequenting the Bay were more volatile than the Bedouins. "These are
not men, but chameleons"--was the remark of another adventurer.

[Sidenote: Confusion of tribes.]

The chief cause of the confusion lay in the variations of spelling.
More than a century was to elapse before a common orthography was
adopted, and in the interval it was impossible to fix the tribes by
name with certainty. The name of no tribe perhaps underwent such
vicissitudes of spelling and pronunciation as that described by the
earliest Jesuit pioneers as the Ossa-poiles, which in our own day are
known as the Assiniboines. They were in process of time the Poeles,
Poets, the Pedlas, the Semplars, Oss-Semplars, Essapoils and the
Simpoils.[17]

At a general court held to consider the action of Governor Bailey, the
majority of the adventurers professed themselves rejoiced at having
been quit of the services of the Sieurs Groseilliers and Radisson; yet
there were not wanting others to openly regret the treatment these two
men had received. As may be supposed, the most fervent of their
advocates and defenders was Sir John Kirke, whose daughter had married
Radisson, and who himself had lately been knighted by the king. He
predicted some disaster to the Company from having dismissed these two
faithful servants, and he was loud and persistent in asserting the bad
faith and unjust suspicions of Bailey.

While the affairs of the Company were proceeding tranquilly at home,
the conduct and employment of one of these two bushrangers was more
enlivening. Chouart was passing his time in inactivity at Three
Rivers. But his brother-in-law, after several ineffectual endeavours
to establish a northern rivalry to the Company, had offered his
services to the French Navy. This career, which at that period must
have been, even for him, sufficiently eventful and exciting, was cut
short by ship-wreck in 1679. Losing all his property, even to his
clothing, Radisson made his way first to Brest and then to Paris. The
Vice-Admiral and Intendant of the Fleet having written in his favour,
the Court was pleased to grant him a sum of one hundred crowns, and
hope was also held out to him that he would be honoured by the command
of a frigate. In the meantime he was accorded leave to go to England
to fetch his wife.

[Sidenote: Radisson in France.]

Madame Radisson, otherwise Mistress Mary Kirke, appears to have caused
her husband a great deal of mortification and numerous disappointments.
There is no doubt that her continued residence in England, in spite of
her husband's return to the French service, made him an object of
suspicion to the French Court. Once when he endeavoured, in a
memorable interview with Colbert, to press upon that Minister his
scheme for ousting the English from Hudson's Bay, the Minister
responded coldly:

"M. Radisson, you are suspected of being in league with the English,
your father-in-law is one of the members of the English Company; and
your wife resides under his roof."

"I made him understand," declared Radisson long afterwards, "that,
though married, I was not master of my wife. Her father would by no
means consent to my bringing her to France with me."

These rebuffs determined him to make an attempt to better his worldly
condition elsewhere. A true soldier of fortune, patriotism appears to
have had little weight with him; he was as ready to serve under the
English as the French. He returned to find his father-in-law more
placable. Sir John had at this time certain claims against the French;
and he doubtless fancied that Radisson might assist him in preferring
these at the French Court. He took occasion to ask his father-in-law
what chance there remained to him of again securing employment under
the Company. "None, sir," replied Kirke, "both Bailey, Lyddal and
others are against you and have poisoned the minds of their employers.
Prince Rupert is, however, your friend, and also Captain Gillam; but
one dislikes to speak openly, and the other dare not."

Acting on this intelligence, Radisson resolved to see Rupert. The
prince received him kindly enough; he took pains to show him his
collection of mezzotints, and to explain some of his scientific
curiosities. He even went so far as to condole with Radisson on the
treatment he had received. But he had to point out that the temper of
the Company was such that he feared it would be in vain for him to
exercise his interest for his visitor's reinstatement.

[Sidenote: Plan to dislodge the Company.]

Radisson, disappointed of his hopes, and frustrated in his desire to
return with his wife, did not meet with a warm welcome on the other
side of the Channel. Colbert received him with black looks; and the
suspicions which gathered about him were now strengthened rather than
dissipated. In this extremity he repaired to the Marquis de Seignely,
to whom he set forth substantially the same plan which he had
cherished for years, of opening out the trade of the North, with the
additional attraction now of dislodging the English from a commerce
which had already proved vastly profitable. Seignely listened with
interest, and requested time to reflect on the matter. At the second
interview Radisson was not overwhelmed with disappointment, for he had
expected no other issue; he was told flatly that he was regarded by
the king as little better than a traitor; and that his Canadian
project met with universal distrust.

The outlook seemed discouraging indeed, when happily at this juncture
there arrived in Paris M. de la Chesnaye, who was in charge of the
fur-trade in Canada, as the head of the Compagnie du Nord. This event
proved Radisson's salvation. He learned with great rejoicing that La
Chesnaye's visit to France was actuated by a desire to report upon the
intrusion of the English Company. La Chesnaye proved a true friend; he
evinced himself most heartily in favour of the Government securing the
services of Radisson in establishing a rival establishment, on the
principle of those of the Company to which he had formerly been
attached.

Many consultations took place, both Seignely and Chesnaye listening
with great interest while Radisson explained the equipment and
merchandise of the Hudson's Bay Company, which he strongly advised
should be taken as a pattern in all practical extensions of the French
fur-trade in those regions.

[Sidenote: Radisson assisted by the Jesuits.]

The only difficulty now presenting itself was to find money for the
enterprise. The exchequer of the Court was at a low ebb; and it had a
thousand calls upon its charity and liberality. Radisson must wait
even for the few hundred crowns he so sadly needed for his passage to
New France and his personal needs. There was, however, one force in
France which could always be approached with a good courage when any
enterprise in a new country required support, and always with success.
It was the power which, though it had endured a thousand
disappointments and sacrificed a thousand lives, and as many fortunes,
in the attempt to teach the Gospel of Jesus in the wilderness, had
adhered without wavering to its faith in the ultimate victory of the
Cross over the savage nature of the Indians. No adventurer, if he had
but a sufficiently plausible story, need turn away empty-handed from
the door of the Jesuits. To the Jesuits of Paris Radisson presented
himself as a good Catholic seeking to subvert the designs of the
heretic English. He applied for assistance, and he was at length
rewarded for his pains by a sum of five hundred crowns.

But nearly two years had passed before this assistance was procured.
Radisson's debts had accumulated; his creditors were clamouring about
him, threatening him with the sponging-house; no effort to elude them
met with success, and at length he found himself at Rochelle, with
scarce twenty crowns in his pocket over and above the cost of his
passage. It was then that he made the resolve to reimburse the
Jesuits, "if he should live to be worth so great a sum," and it is
interesting to discover that two years later he kept his word. At
present he could only trust to La Chesnaye, who was anxiously awaiting
his arrival in Quebec. Thither Radisson arrived on the 25th of
September, 1681.

La Chesnaye showed much joy at seeing his friend; for in truth his own
plans for seeking to share the northern trade of the English were
nearly ripe. He declared that there was no time to be lost; but that
in spite of the urgency of the matter the greatest circumspection
would have to be observed, as Frontenac by no means desired to
compromise the king without first seeing his way clear.

But if the Governor whose career was about to close was punctilious,
the Intendant Duchesneau was not. He had already dispatched a memoir
to his superior relating to Hudson's Bay, and to what he believed to
be the French rights there.

[Sidenote: Duchesneau protests against English encroachments.]

"They" (the English) he wrote, "are still on Hudson's Bay on the north
and do great damage to our fur-trade. The farmers [of the revenue]
suffer in consequence by this diminution of the trade at Tadoussac,
and throughout the entire country, because the English drive off the
Outaoua nations. For the one and the other design they have two forts
on the said Bay--the one towards Tadoussac and the other at Cape
Henrietta Marie, on the side of the Assinibonetz. The sole means to
prevent them succeeding in what is prejudicial to us in this regard
would be to drive them by main force from that Bay, which belongs to
us. Or, if there would be an objection in coming to that extremity, to
construct forts on the rivers falling into the lakes, in order to stop
the Indians at these points."

The zealous Intendant declared that should King Lewis adopt the
resolution to arrange with the Duke of York for his possessions in
that quarter, "in which case Boston could not resist," Canada would be
ruined, "the French being naturally inconsistent and fond of novelty."

Finding, however, that they could obtain no official recognition of
the enterprise, La Chesnaye at length resorted to a transparent
fiction in order to account for Radisson's departure--a subterfuge
which was the more necessary since many had begun to suspect his
destination and urged the Governor to do nothing which would bring
down on them the enmity of the English and their allies, the Iroquois.
He requested the Governor, if he would not countenance an expedition
with license to trade on the shores of the Bay, to grant Radisson
formal permission to return to France by way of New England in a
vessel belonging to the Government of Acadia, which at that moment
lay in the St. Lawrence ready to sail.

It was arranged privately that after his departure Radisson should
proceed in this vessel only as far as Isle Percée in the Gulf, near
the mouth of the river, and there await his kinsmen Groseilliers, his
nephew Chouart, and the two ships which La Chesnaye was even then
busily fitting out. Thus all official cognizance of the expedition
would be avoided.

[Sidenote: Company's enemies leave Quebec.]

The terms agreed upon were, that in return for La Chesnaye's
equipment, Radisson and Groseilliers were, provided certain conditions
were carried out, to receive jointly half the profits of the venture,
and La Chesnaye the other half. What these conditions were can only be
guessed; but beyond all question, they concerned the capture or
spoliation of the English trading posts on the Bay. Radisson took with
him his nephew, Jean Baptiste, who had passed nearly the whole of his
life among the Indians as a _coureur de bois_; the pilot, Pierre
Allemand, and an old bushranger named Godefrey, who was well
acquainted with the Indians of the northern regions. Groseilliers was
to remain behind until the spring, when he was to have the command of
the smaller of the two vessels. On the 4th of November the advance
guard of the expedition directed against the Company's establishment
in Hudson's Bay left Quebec.

In the following spring the rendezvous was kept at the island named.
Radisson is found complaining bitterly of the character of the vessels
_St. Pierre_ and _St. Anne_. The former he describes as an old craft
of 50 tons only, "with twelve men of a crew, including those with me.
There were goods enough for the trade aboard her," he adds, "but so
scanty a supply of provisions that if I had not been so deeply engaged
I should not venture on the enterprise."

[Sidenote: Rejected advice of Radisson and Groseilliers.]

If his case was scarcely hopeful, that of his brother-in-law was far
worse. The latter's vessel could boast but little more than half the
tonnage, and while her crew was larger by three men, she carried even
fewer supplies. But Radisson and Groseilliers were not men to shrink
from any enterprise because it seemed hazardous. They had led bold,
reckless lives, and their spirits rose at the prospect of danger. It
was afterwards alleged of this pair that one great cause of their
disagreement with the Company was their absolute inability to remain
quiet and content in the enjoyment of a regular traffic. Such a career
seemed to their bold, energetic dispositions worthier of drapers'
apprentices. It is said they counselled the Company not to think of
establishing one or two trading posts and expect the Indians to come
to them for trade, but to push on in the wilderness to the north and
west, building new depots and stirring up the hunters to greater
activity and more profitable results. Had this advice been followed,
the exploration of the great North-West would not only have been
anticipated by almost a century; but by the occupation of its
territory, the great evils of a later day would have been averted; nor
would anyone in England have challenged the Company's right to an
exclusive trade in the regions granted by its charter.

But the Company was soon to learn that its earliest pioneers and
forerunners were not to be cast off with impunity. The two bushrangers
experienced considerable difficulty at the outset in propitiating and
calming the fears of their crews, who were terrified, and not without
reason, at the prospect of a voyage of 900 leagues in such craft as
the _St. Pierre_ and the _St. Anne_, and amidst rough water and ice.
But they at length succeeded and effected a start.

After nineteen days the crew of Groseilliers' ship mutinied.
Groseilliers' attempts to appease them seemed about to end in signal
failure when the man on watch cried out that a vessel was in sight to
windward. Groseilliers seized his opportunity; "See!" he cried,
pointing to the distant barque, "yonder is one of the English Company,
laden with the profits of their trade in the Bay. Every man has his
pocket full of gold and his stomach full of rum; and we shall have the
same if we are not cowards enough to abandon our voyage."

After innumerable episodes, some of which almost ended in tragic
consequences, Radisson at last, on the 26th of August, arrived on the
west coast of Hudson's Bay. On the following day he was joined by his
brother-in-law in the _St. Anne_ at the mouth of a river named by the
Indians Ka-kirka-kiouay, translated by Radisson as "who goes, who
comes."

Twelve days before their arrival another ship had entered this same
river, commanded by none other than Captain Gillam, and having on
board John Bridgar, commissioned as Governor of the new settlement at
Port Nelson.

Having thus entered the river, they advanced fifteen miles up stream,
and Radisson then left Groseilliers to build a fort, while he himself
departed in search of savages with whom to trade. With him he took his
nephew and Godefrey, all three being well armed with muskets and
pistols. In the course of eight days they accomplished forty leagues
and attained the upper part of the river, though without meeting a
single savage. On the eighth day, however, their eyes were rejoiced by
the sight of a large encampment of Indians, who, while not especially
rich in furs, were eager to conclude a treaty with the French, and to
encourage their settlement in the country. Radisson now decided to
return, accompanied by some of the savages, and on the 12th day of
September rejoined his brother-in-law, whose fort he found pretty well
advanced.

[Sidenote: The younger Gillam discovered.]

Hardly had he returned when the sudden booming of a cannon startled
the settlement. It was the first time the Indians had ever heard the
sound, and they expressed much astonishment and apprehension. While
the two adventurers hastened to re-assure their allies, they were
themselves hardly less disturbed. Radisson made up his mind to
immediately ascertain whence the firing came and with this intention
he embarked in a canoe and went to the mouth of the river. In passing
to the opposite bank of the stream, and while in the vicinity of a
small island, they perceived signs of European habitation. A tent had
been erected, and at that moment a log house was being built. After a
stealthy reconnoitre, lasting the whole night, Radisson and his
companions advanced boldly in the morning from the opposite shore in
their canoe. The islanders were engaged in making a repast when
Radisson attracted their attention. Speaking first to them in French,
and finding that none of them understood, he thereupon addressed them
in English. He asked them what was their business in those parts.

Their leader quickly responded: "We are English, and come for the
beaver trade."

"By whose authority," asked Radisson; "do you possess a commission?"
The other replied that he did not himself possess such a document, but
that his father did, and that he and his companions hailed from New
England. Whereupon Radisson, still seated in his canoe at some
distance from the shore, informed them that they had not a shadow of
right to be in those regions, which he himself had discovered and
settled for the French some years before. He drew upon his imagination
so far as to intimate that he was at that moment in command of a large
force of Frenchmen near at hand, who would effectually maintain the
sovereignty of King Lewis and his exclusive trading right in this
territory; and he concluded his harangue, which was delivered almost
at the top of his voice, by advising the party of New Englanders to
embark as soon as possible and to return from whence they came.

Before any reply could be made, a cry broke from the lips of both the
leaders. The canoe had touched the bank, and they recognized one
another. The New Englander was the son of Radisson's old friend
Gillam; and, as may be supposed, he possessed a very high admiration
for a man of whom he had heard so much. They speedily embraced, but
Radisson is careful to inform us that he did not entirely trust his
young friend. When young Gillam's ship appeared at the mouth of the
river, and he was invited to go on board, he did so, but he took the
precaution of insisting upon two Englishmen being left as hostages on
shore. It was not without misgivings that, as he neared the vessel in
their canoe, he observed the captain posting the English emblem and
likewise discharging a number of cannon shots.

"I told him," says Radisson, "that it was not necessary to fire any
more, for fear of causing jealousy amongst our people, who might show
themselves hostile. He proposed that we should negotiate together. I
promised that I would persuade our other officers to consent that,
since the season was already too far advanced for them to withdraw, he
should pass the winter where he was without their doing him any
mischief."

In short Radisson was resolved at all costs to keep up appearances. He
even went so far as to grant Gillam formal permission to continue
building his house, "barring fortifications," and to guarantee him
against insults from the Indians, over whom he professed to have
absolute power. The two men parted on good terms; and perhaps Gillam's
complaisance was well-advised. Radisson confesses that had the English
shown themselves refractory or exhibited any disposition to assert
rights over the country, it was his firm intention to concert a plan
for seizing their ship, which he observes, was an "excellent prize"
inasmuch it held no commission or warrant to trade from any power.

It afterwards appeared that this enterprise of the New England ship
was set on foot by Gillam senior, who, dissatisfied with his profits
under the Company, sought to adventure an expedition on his own
account from Boston. He was destined to pay the penalty for this
indiscretion.

Happy at having come out of this encounter so easily, Radisson and his
party re-embarked in their canoe and struck out northwards. Another
surprise was in store for them. A ship under full sail was on the
point of entering the river. More strategy was necessary. The party
regained the shore and instantly kindled a huge bonfire, upon which
they cast grass and leaves so as to produce a thick column of smoke.
Their purpose was to attract the attention and arrest the progress of
the vessel and in this they succeeded. Believing they had come upon an
Indian settlement, and anxious to reconnoitre before proceeding
farther, the parties aboard the ship cast anchor immediately and so
remained motionless in the channel all night.

[Sidenote: Arrival of Bridgar.]

Early in the morning they saw that a boat was being lowered from the
ship, and while it was filling with occupants Radisson made ready to
receive them. Each of his party was posted, armed, at the entrance to
the wood, while Radisson himself walked down to the shore to greet the
strangers.

They were soon within hail. Radisson set up a loud cry, Indian
fashion, for the purpose of eliciting a response. He was disappointed
in this; for the boat approached steadily and silently; there was a
movement of the oars, but most of the figures appeared stern and
motionless. The boat grounded ten yards from where Radisson stood with
folded arms, and a general attitude of defiance. One of the crew had
got a leg over the side of the boat when our bushranger cried out in a
loud voice:

"Hold, in the King's name." And then presenting his carbine, "I forbid
you to land."

The occupants of the boat were astonished.

"Who are you?" they asked, "and what is your business?"

"I am a Frenchman," was the answer, delivered in English; "and I hold
this country for his Most Christian Majesty, King Lewis!"

Radisson signalled to his followers, who emerged from their retreat,
making a brave show of their weapons. The coup seemed destined to be
successful. The leader of the boat party, visibly impressed, remained
standing up in his craft without any attempt on the part of his
followers to land.

"I beg to inform you, gentlemen, that we hail from London. Our ship
yonder is the _Prince Rupert_, belonging to the honourable Hudson's
Bay Company and commanded by Captain Zachary Gillam."

"You arrive too late. This country is already in the possession of the
King of France, and its trade belongs to the Northern Company of
Canada."

A short dispute succeeded. Suddenly changing his tactics, Governor
Bridgar, for it was no other, feigned acquiescence, admitted that
after all Radisson might be right, and requested the privilege of
landing and saluting him.

[Sidenote: The Bushranger's mendacity.]

The two leaders now conversed amicably. Radisson took occasion to
elaborate the narrative to which he had recently treated young Gillam,
without, however, mentioning the circumstance of his having met the
latter. He did not scruple to allege a lengthy residence in the
region, detailing his forces, both French and Indian, with a fine
display of exactitude. Commenced on shore, the interview was
transferred to the ship; Radisson, while accepting Bridgar's
hospitality, took care to keep, as before, two or three hostages on
land. On board the _Prince Rupert_ he embraced Gillam, and listened
with a real interest to the tidings he had to convey of what had been
happening in Europe, and of the affairs of the Company. For himself,
he readily volunteered the information that he and his brother-in-law
Groseilliers had two fine large vessels in the vicinity, while the
third was shortly expected. He likewise made no secret of the fact
that a huge fort was being constructed hard by in the interests of the
French Company. In all of these statements Governor Bridgar professed
absolute credence, whatever may have been his private opinion of their
value.

In reality, however, he was not deceived; and if it had not been for
Radisson's precaution as to the hostages, there is some reason to
believe he would have detained his guest on board the Company's ship
to ruminate for a while on his treachery to the Company. Even allowing
for the truth of Radisson's assertions regarding the occupation by the
French of Port Nelson and the surrounding neighbourhood in large
numbers, Bridgar was not to be dissuaded by mere words from his
intention to establish a factory there. He had every confidence in the
Company's rights; and he determined to carry out his instructions to
the letter.

No sooner had Radisson departed, therefore, than a majority of the
people on board the _Prince Rupert_ landed and commenced building a
fort.

The French party hiding in the woods spied on their movements; and
before rejoining their comrades at their own settlement they had the
privilege of seeing the erection of Fort Nelson, the fourth
establishment of the Company in the Hudson's Bay territories, well
under way.

FOOTNOTE:

[17] Also known to-day as the Stone Indians.




CHAPTER IX.

1682-1683.

     Death of Prince Rupert -- The Company's Difficulty in Procuring
     Proper Servants -- Radisson at Port Nelson -- The two Gillams
     -- Their Meeting -- Capture of the New England Party -- The
     First Scotchman in the Bay -- Governor Bridgar Carried off
     Prisoner -- Indian Visitors to the Fort -- Disasters to the
     Ships -- The French Burn the Island Fort -- Radisson's Harangue
     to the Indians -- Return to France.


[Sidenote: Death of Prince Rupert.]

On the 28th of November, 1682, at his house in Spring Garden, died the
first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The prince had been in
ill-health for some time, he was in his sixty-third year; and he had
lived a stirring and adventurous life. His demise occasioned general
regret, more amongst the people than at Court; for, as a writer of
that day observed, "he had of late years proved a faithful counsellor
to the King, but a greater patriot to English liberty; and therefore
was towards his latter end neglected by the Court to that degree that
nothing passed between him and his great relations but bare civilities
in the common forms." On the sixth of the ensuing month his body was
privately interred among others of the Royal Family in a vault in
Westminster Abbey.

A week later there was held a General Court of the Company, at which
the Duke of York was chosen to succeed Rupert in the governorship.
Besides the Duke himself, his Royal Highness the Duke of Albemarle,
Lord Arlington and Mr. Hays, all delivered enthusiastic panegyrics on
the deceased prince, rightly attributing to his zeal, judgment and
enterprise, the successful establishment of the Company. And the
meeting then adjourned out of regret for the dead Governor without
proceeding to further business.

More than fifteen years had elapsed since Medard Chouart des
Groseilliers had first fired Prince Rupert with his project of
founding a great fur-traffic in the unknown and unexplored regions of
the New World. The prince had lived to see that project succeed even
beyond his most sanguine expectations. Now, at his death, the Company
owned four ships; and after all the cost of its plant, its ships and
its equipment had been paid, it was returning an annual profit of two
hundred per cent. on its capital. It was well-known that his Highness
favoured greater activity, and one of his last acts had been to sign
the commission of John Bridgar as Governor of the new settlement at
Port Nelson. But during his own Governorship, the Company, feeling, no
doubt, that they must balance the Prince's zeal for adventure with
considerable caution, opposed the policy of rapid expansion with
somewhat excessive prudence; and it was only after his death that they
felt confident in pursuing a more vigorous and enterprising plan of
commerce.

Under date of April 27th, 1683, while the drama between the French and
English was being enacted at Port Nelson, the following instructions
were addressed to Governor Sargeant, regarding trade with the
interior: "You are to choose out from amongst our servants such as are
best qualified with strength of body and the country language to
travel and to penetrate into the country, and to draw down the Indians
by fair and gentle means to trade with us."

But the Company was to learn that the parsimony which then
characterized its policy was not calculated to foster the success of
its aims. The majority of the men it sent out from England could not
be classified under the head of adventurous spirits, ready to dare all
for mere excitement and the prospect of gain. They were for the most
part young men gifted with no more aptitude for the work in the
wilderness than a disinclination to pursue their callings at home. No
small number were dissatisfied apprentices; one William Evans had been
a drawer at the Rainbow Inn; Portman had sent his scullion.

Even at that early day the staffs employed on the plantations were
recruited from amongst the very class least competent to exploit those
regions. The majority of the applicants for employment in the
Company's service in the seventeenth century were not men of character
and vigour, or even of robust physique, but rather hare-brained
artisans of the wild, dare-devil type, whose parents and friends
foresaw for them, if London or Bristol formed the sphere of their
talents, a legal and violent rather than a natural termination of
their respective careers.

[Sidenote: Company's encouragement requested.]

Sargeant's response to the foregoing injunction certainly served to
enlighten his superiors. "I shall not be neglectful," he wrote, "as
soon as I can find any man capable and willing to send up into the
country with the Indians, to endeavour to penetrate into what the
country will and may produce, and to effect their utmost in bringing
down the Indians to our factory; but your Honours should give good
encouragement to those who undertake such extraordinary service; or
else I fear that there will be but few that will embrace such
employment."

The rebuke may have been just; but it seems to have given offence to
some of the more pompous members of the Company; and Sargeant was
desired not to cast any further reflection on his employers in his
communications to them. Nevertheless, the Company was soon to learn
the value of a less niggardly policy.

Meanwhile for ten days the two ex-employees, Radisson and
Groseilliers, gave no further evidence to the English at the new
settlement on Nelson River of their presence. But on the tenth day
their curiosity and uneasiness regarding the conduct of the English
Governor, Bridgar, and the other servants of the Company, had reached
such a pitch that it was decided without further consideration that
Radisson should start off at once to reconnoitre their behaviour. The
actual distance between Fort Bourbon, on the Hays River, and the
Company's factory on Nelson River was not above fifty miles; but owing
to the dangerous character of the river, and the necessity for delay
before an attempt could be made to cross it, Radisson and his party
consumed fourteen days on the journey.

[Sidenote: Bridgar's credulity.]

On their arrival on the 3rd of February, one of the first objects to
attract their attention was the _Prince Rupert_, stuck fast in the ice
and mud about a mile from where the factory was being erected. At the
same time they met the Governor, who was out on a hunting expedition
with the chief mate of the vessel. Satisfying himself that no
treachery was intended, Radisson accepted Bridgar's invitation to
enter the log-house which he had caused to be built for his own
occupation. Radisson introduced one of the Frenchmen who accompanied
him as the captain of an imaginary ship, which he averred had arrived
from France in his behalf. "Mr. B. believed it and anything else I
chose to tell him," remarks Radisson naively, "I aiming always to
prevent him from having any knowledge of the English interloper."
While engaged in the pleasing diversion of drinking each other's
health, a number of musket shots were fired. The crew of the vessel
not taking any notice of this, the bushranger concluded that those on
board were not on their guard and might readily be surprised.

With this condition uppermost in his mind, the Frenchman quitted
Bridgar, having first allayed any suspicion which might have naturally
arisen as to the intention of the party. The latter went boldly on
board the ship, and no hindrance being offered, their leader had a
colloquy with Captain Gillam. The latter, while he received the visit
civilly enough, found occasion to let Radisson know that he was far
from entirely trusting him. When his visitor suggested that he was
running a great risk in allowing the _Prince Rupert_ to remain
grounded, Gillam bluntly requested Radisson to mind his own business,
adding that he knew perfectly well what he was doing--a boast which,
as the sequel showed, was certainly not well founded. Radisson was
determined not to be put out of temper, and so run risk of spoiling
his plans.

Winter, even in all its rigour, seems to have had no terrors for our
indomitable bushranger. For the next two months, as we shall see, he
continued to scour backwards and forwards through the country,
inspiring his followers and urging them onward to the prosecution of a
plan which was obvious to them all. After parting from Gillam the
elder, who had not the faintest suspicion that his son was in the
locality, Radisson at once started to parley with Gillam, the
younger.

When he had regained the island which he had left, he was instantly
made aware that the New Englanders had been considerably less idle
than the Company's servants; having completed a very creditable fort
and mounted it with six pieces of cannon. With Benjamin Gillam, our
bushranger passed off the same subterfuge with which he had hoodwinked
Zachary. He spoke fluently of his newly arrived ship and her cargo and
crew, and to cap his narrative, proceeded to introduce her captain,
who was none other than the old pilot, Pierre Allemand, who, from the
description still extant of his appearance, looked every inch the
bold, fierce and uncompromising mariner. He had a great deal to tell
Benjamin likewise of the Company's post near by, which he said
contained forty soldiers.

"Let them be forty devils," exclaimed Gillam, junior, "we have built a
good fort and are afraid of nothing."

Whereupon Radisson gently reminded him that according to his agreement
he was to have built no fort whatever. In reply to this Benjamin
begged his visitor not to take umbrage at such a matter, as he never
intended to dispute the rights of the French in the region; and the
fort was merely intended as a defence against the Indians.

[Sidenote: A manoeuvre of Radisson's.]

As the evening wore on, a manoeuvre suggested itself to Radisson. He
resolved to bring father and son together. No sooner had he formed
this amiable resolve than he revealed to Benjamin Gillam the proximity
of the _Prince Rupert_ and her commander, and described the means by
which an encounter might be effected without eliciting the suspicions
of Governor Bridgar or any of the Company's servants. It consisted
briefly in young Benjamin's disguising himself as a Frenchman and a
bushranger. The scheme met with the young man's hearty approbation and
the details were settled as Radisson had designed.

On the following day the party set out through the snow. Arriving at
the point of land opposite to which the Company's ship lay, Radisson
posted two of his best men in the woods on the path which led to the
factory. He instructed them to allow the Governor to pass should he
come that way, but that if he returned from the ship unaccompanied or
prior to their own departure they were to seize and overpower him on
the spot. With such precautions as these, Radisson felt himself safe
and went on board the _Prince Rupert_ accompanied by Gillam. He
introduced his two companions into the captain's room without any
notice on the part of Gillam the elder, and the mate and another man
he had with him. Leaning across the table, upon which was deposited a
bulky bottle of rum, Radisson whispered to the honest captain that he
had a secret of the highest importance to communicate if he would but
dismiss the others. Gillam readily sent away the mate, but would not
dismiss his second attendant until Radisson, again in a whisper,
informed him that the black-bearded man in the strange head-gear was
his son.

[Sidenote: Meeting of father and son.]

After communicating this intelligence the pair had their own way. The
next few moments were devoted to embraces and to an interchange of
news, for Captain Gillam and Benjamin had not met for two years. The
sire could not refrain from imparting to his son that he was running a
great risk; he declared it would be ruinous to him if it got to the
Governor's ears that there was any collusion between them. Radisson
again professed his friendship, but added that in his opinion neither
of the parties had any right to be where they were, he having taken
possession for the King of France. "This territory is all his Most
Christian Majesty's," he said. "The fort we have built yonder we call
Fort Bourbon, and none have any right here but such as own allegiance
to Lewis XIV." He observed that nothing would cause a rupture of the
friendly relations now subsisting between French and English but the
trade in peltries, trade which he had too great reason to fear they
hoped to initiate with the Indians in the spring.

The elder Gillam coolly responded that the ship he commanded, and the
spot on which they were then assembled, luckily belonged not to
himself, but to the Hudson's Bay Company.

"With regard to the trade, gentlemen," said he, "you have nothing to
fear from me. Even though I don't carry a solitary beaver back to the
Thames, I shall not trouble myself, being sure of my wages."

[Sidenote: Gillam nearly betrayed.]

This interview was prolonged. The healths of the Kings of France and
England, Prince Rupert and M. Colbert (quite in ignorance of the death
of the two last named) were drunk with zeal and enthusiasm. In the
midst of all this, that which Radisson had anticipated, occurred.
Governor Bridgar, notified of Radisson's return, came to the ship in
hot haste. On his joining the group, he remarked meaningly that the
fort the French had constructed must be nearer than he had been given
to think, since its commandant could effect so speedy a return. He
evinced himself very uneasy in mind concerning the Frenchman's
intentions. Before their departure, young Gillam came very near being
betrayed. He was partially recognized by one of the traders who
accompanied the Governor. But the matter passed off without serious
consequences.

None too soon did the party return to young Gillam's fort on the
island, for a tremendous blizzard ensued, sweeping the whole country,
and forcing Radisson to remain for some days within doors. As soon as
the storm had subsided, however, Radisson started off, declining
Gillam's offer of his second mate to accompany him back to the French
settlement.

"I managed to dissuade him," he writes, "having my reasons for wishing
to conceal the road we should take. On leaving we went up from the
fort to the upper part of the river, but in the evening we retraced
our steps and next morning found ourselves in sight of the sea, into
which it was necessary to enter in order to pass the point and reach
the river in which was our habitation. But everything was so covered
with ice that there was no apparent way of passing farther. We found
ourselves, indeed, so entangled in the ice that we could neither
retreat nor advance towards the shore to make a landing. It was
necessary, however, that we should pass through the ice or perish. We
remained in this condition for four hours without being able to
advance or retire and in great danger of our lives. Our clothes were
frozen on us and we could only move with difficulty; but at last we
made so strong an attempt that we arrived at the shore, our canoe
being all broken up. Each of us took our baggage and arms, and marched
in the direction of our habitation without finding anything to eat for
three days, except crows and birds of prey, which are the last to
leave these countries."

Fort Bourbon was reached at length. After reporting to his
brother-in-law all that had passed, Groseilliers was not long in
counselling what was best to be done. In his opinion the first thing
necessary was to secure possession of young Gillam's ship. Time
pressed and the spring would soon be upon them, bringing with it the
advent of the Indians. He argued that delay might prove fatal,
inasmuch as Bridgar might at any moment learn of the presence of the
New England interlopers; and in that event he would probably make an
effort to capture their fort and add their forces to his own. If this
were done, the success of the French in overpowering the English
traders would be slight and their voyage would have been undertaken
for nothing.

[Sidenote: Calamity to the Company's ship.]

It was therefore agreed that Groseilliers should remain in charge of
the fort, while his kinsman should immediately return to Nelson River.
In a few days they parted once more, Radisson setting out with a fresh
party and thoroughly resolved upon action. The first discovery he
made, on arriving at the scene of his proposed operations, was that
the Company's ship, the _Prince Rupert_, was frozen fast in the ice,
and must inevitably perish when the spring floods came. He also
speedily ascertained that the Governor, by no means relishing his
presence in the vicinity, was already planning measures to thwart, if
not to capture, his rivals, for he had sent out two sailors charged
with the task of discovering the exact whereabouts of the French and
the extent of their strength and equipment.

These two spies Radisson promptly captured--no difficult task indeed,
for they had lost their way and were half-frozen and almost famished.
The anticipated fate of the _Prince Rupert_ was not long delayed. The
tidings shortly reached Radisson that she was a total wreck, and with
it came also the news of the loss of her captain, the mate and four
sailors. A subsequent report, however, declared that Gillam had
escaped with his life.

Receiving this intelligence, Radisson presented himself before the
Governor to see how he was affected by such a calamity.

He found Bridgar drinking heavily, but resolved to keep up appearances
and to withhold from the French any knowledge of what had happened. He
affected to believe the ship safe, merely observing that she had
shifted her position a few leagues down the river. Radisson asserts
that at this time the Company's factory was short of provisions. It is
impossible that this could have been the case. The assertion was
probably made to cover his own depredations on the stores of the
Company.

Parting from the Governor, Radisson presented himself before Gillam
the younger, to whom he did not as yet choose to say anything
concerning his father and the loss of his ship. Under various
pretences he induced Gillam to pay him a visit at Fort Bourbon. The
latter does not seem at this time to have been aware of the intention
of the French towards him. But he was soon to be undeceived.

[Sidenote: Radisson's threats.]

"I remained quiet for a month," says Radisson, in the course of his
extraordinary narrative, "treating young Gillam, my new guest, well
and with all sorts of civilities, which he abused on several
occasions. For having apparently perceived that we had not the
strength I told him, he took the liberty of speaking of me in
threatening terms behind my back, treating me as a pirate and saying
that in spite of me he would trade in spring with the Indians. He had
even the hardihood to strike one of my men, which I pretended not to
notice; but, having the insolence later, when we were discussing the
privileges of New England, to speak against the respect due the best
of kings, I treated him as a worthless dog for speaking in that way
and told him that, having had the honour to eat bread in his service,
I would pray to God all my life for his Majesty. He left me,
threatening that he would return to his fort and that when he was
there I would not dare to speak to him as I had done. I could not
expect to have a better opportunity to begin what I had resolved to
do. I told this young brute then that I had brought him from his fort,
that I would take him back myself when I pleased, not when he wished.
He answered impertinently several times, which obliged me to threaten
that I would put him in a place of safety if he was not wiser. He
asked me then if he was a prisoner. I said I would consider it and
that I would secure my trade since he threatened to interrupt it. I
then withdrew to give him time to be informed by the Englishmen how
his father's life was lost with the Company's ship, and the bad
situation of Mr. Bridgar. I left in their company a Frenchman who
understood English, unknown to them. When I had left, young Gillam
urged the Englishman to fly, and to go to his master and assure him
that he would give him six barrels of powder and other supplies if he
would undertake to deliver him out of my hands. The Englishman made no
answer, but he did not inform me of the proposition that had been made
him (I had learned that from the Frenchman, who had learned everything
and thought it was time to act for my security)."

In the evening Radisson said nothing of what he knew of the plot. He
asked those in his train if the muskets were in their places, which he
had put around to act as guarantee against surprise. At the word
_musket_ young Gillam, who did not know what was meant, grew alarmed
and, according to Radisson, wished to fly, believing that it was
intended to kill him. But his flight was arrested by his captor, who
took occasion to free him from his apprehension. The next morning,
however, the bushranger's plans were openly divulged. He told Gillam
that he was about to take his fort and ship.

"He answered haughtily that even if I had a hundred men I could not
succeed, and that his people would have killed more than forty before
they could reach the palisades. This boldness did not astonish me,
being very sure that I would succeed in my design."

[Sidenote: Hays' Island fort.]

Having secured Gillam the younger, it was now necessary to secure the
fort of which he was master. The intrepid Frenchman started for Hays'
Island with nine men, and gaining an entrance by strategy, he cast off
the mask of friendship and boldly demanded the keys of the fort and
the whole stock of arms and powder. He added that in the event of
their refusal to yield he would raze the fort to the ground. No
resistance seems to have been attempted, and Radisson took formal
possession of the place in the name of the King of France. This
ceremony being concluded, he ordered Jenkins, the mate, to conduct him
to the ship, and here formal possession was taken in the same fashion,
without any forcible objection on the part of the crew. Some
explanation of this extraordinary complaisance, if Radisson's story of
the number of men he took with him be true, may be found in the
commander's unpopularity, he having recently killed his supercargo in
a quarrel.

Nevertheless, Benjamin Gillam was not to be altogether without
friends.

A certain Scotchman, perchance the first of his race in those regions,
which were afterwards to be forever associated with Scottish zeal and
labours, wishing to show his fidelity to his chief, escaped, and
eluding the efforts of the fleetest of the French bushrangers to catch
him, he arrived at Fort Nelson and told his tale. The Governor's
astonishment may be imagined. He had hitherto no inkling of the
presence of the New England interlopers, and although his captain and
fellow-servant was not equally ignorant, Gillam had kept his counsel
well. The Governor decided at once to head a party of relief, in which
he was seconded by the elder Gillam, who was at the moment only just
recovering from illness caused by exposure during the shipwreck. The
_Susan_ was their first point of attack. Under the cover of night they
made a determined effort to recapture her for the Company. It is
possible that the attempt might have succeeded had not Radisson,
suspecting the move, despatched his entire available force at the same
time and completely overpowered the Governor's men. He thought at
first sight that Bridgar himself was among his prisoners, but the
Governor was not to be caught in that fashion; he had not himself
boarded the ship. The Scotchman who accompanied him, however, was not
so fortunate; he fell into Radisson's hands and suffered for his zeal.
He was tied to a post and informed that his execution would take place
without ceremony on the morrow. The sentence was never carried out.
For Radisson, after exposing his prisoner to the cold all night in an
uncomfortable position, seems to have thought better of his threat,
and after numerous vicissitudes the Scot at length regained his
liberty.

Reinforcements for the French now arrived from Groseilliers. Believing
himself now strong enough to beard the lion in his lair, Radisson
decided to lose no more time in rounding off his schemes. First,
however, he saw fit to address a letter to the Governor asking him if
he "approved the action of the Company's people whom he held
prisoners, who had broken two doors and the storeroom of his ship, in
order to carry off the powder."

Bridgar's reply was that he owed no explanation to a renegade employee
of the Company. Radisson had not been sincere in his professions, and
he had dealt basely and deceitfully with him in preserving silence on
the subject of the interlopers. "As I had proper instructions,"
concluded Bridgar, in a more conciliatory strain, "on setting sail
from London to seize all ships coming to this quarter, I would
willingly have joined hands with you in capturing this vessel. If you
wish me to regard you as sincere you will not keep this prize for your
own use."

The other's response was rapid and masterly. He marched upon Fort
Nelson with twelve men, and by the following nightfall was master of
the English establishment. This feat nearly drove the unhappy Governor
to despair, and he sought solace by applying himself to the rum cask
with greater assiduity than ever. In the frame of mind thus
superinduced, John Bridgar, the first Governor of Port Nelson, was
carried off a prisoner to Fort Bourbon.

This post was built of logs, as the others had been, but there was a
bastion of stone at one end facing the river. It occupied, as nearly
as one may now ascertain, the site upon which was afterwards reared
York Factory. But in the course of the seventy years following the
post was shifted slightly from site to site, when the exigencies of
fire and other causes of destruction demanded a new building.

A few days after the Governor's arrival at Fort Bourbon, the first
Indians began to appear with provisions, which were now beginning to
be very sorely required. To the chief of this band Radisson related
the story, properly garnished, of his exploits, realizing well how
such things appeal to the savage heart. While the Indians were
pondering upon his valour, great was their surprise to behold about
the fort, a number of English, whom Radisson had made prisoners; and
upon learning that there were others at York Factory and Hays' Island,
they very handsomely offered 200 beavers for permission to go thither
and massacre them. This offer Radisson wisely declined; but it seems
clear that he did his best to stir up enmity amongst his Indian
friends against the English. In this he was not entirely successful.
Good news travels fast, too; and the Indians had got wind of Bridgar's
boast that rather than see the trade pass into the hands of the French
it was his intention to offer six axes for a beaver and as much
merchandise in proportion.

They had, besides, reason to believe in the superior generosity of the
English traders as compared with the French.

[Sidenote: Destruction of La Chesnaye's vessels.]

It was now April, 1683. On the 22nd a disaster little foreseen by
Radisson or Groseilliers occurred, which involved the destruction of
their own frail ships. The _St. Pierre_ and the _St. Anne_ had been
hauled into a small stream as far as possible in the woods and there
sheltered by a knoll. At ten o'clock on the night named all at Fort
Bourbon were awakened by a frightful noise, caused by the breaking up
of the ice. The occupants of the fort rushed outside to find the
waters everywhere rising with almost incredible rapidity; and the
masses of ice blocking up the mouth of the creek caused a complete
general submersion. La Chesnaye's two vessels offered no strong
resistance to the flood, and presently began to crack and splinter in
all parts. In a few hours all that remained sound were the bottoms,
clinging fast to the ice and mud.

A similar fate was apprehended for the New England ship, and Radisson
made all haste thither. She was saved only by his adopting the
suggestion of Bridgar, that the ice be carefully cut all about the
_Susan_, as he had heard of Governor Bailey doing on a previous
occasion. The ice once cut, the vessel was only pushed by the strength
of the floes to one side, where she remained aground with little
damage.

The chief concern of the leaders of the French now was to get the
English safely out of the country as soon as possible, before the
arrival of the Company's ships. To this end Radisson and Groseilliers
offered them the hull of the _St. Anne_ which, they believed, could
with industry be patched up with new timber sufficiently well to
withstand a voyage. When the English saw that these were the best
terms they could expect, and that if they were left at the mercy of
the Indians a much worse fate might be in store for them, they set to
work with a will. The labour proved arduous, and they had suffered
terribly. Four had died from cold and hunger, and two had been
poisoned from having rashly drunk of a liquor they had found in the
medicine-room chest, without knowing its nature; another had had his
arm broken quite recently by a musket shot while out hunting. The
Governor felt that his sole hope lay in the expected ships of the
Company. He seems to have always adopted a high tone in dealing with
the French, even to the last. He declared to Radisson that it was only
one of three things that could oblige him to abandon the place, "the
order of his masters, force, or famine." Groseilliers now counselled
burning the island fort, in order to do away with the necessity of
keeping perpetual guard there, and of always taking precautions to
protect themselves against the Governor's intrigues.

This advice was acted upon forthwith; the fort was burned and a small
lodge erected to accommodate such of the New Englanders as had not
been carried to Fort Bourbon, or were not at work on the hull of the
wrecked ship.

[Sidenote: Arrival of the Indians.]

Early in May the Indians began to appear in great numbers.
Bridgar--who, divested of his command and robbed of his stores, was
now allowed at large--heard of their arrival with joy. He seems to
have believed that their chiefs would not repudiate their treaties
with the Company. He hoped in any case to be granted the privilege of
a conference with them, but in this he was quickly undeceived.

Radisson went forward to meet the Indians, who had come well loaded
with peltries and who were much perturbed at discovering the helpless
state of the Governor and the ascendancy of the French. But they
showed no disinclination to trade with the latter, in spite of their
solemn covenant, provided Groseilliers and his brother-in-law would do
so on the same terms as the English. Both the bushrangers, however,
seem to have been determined to put an immediate stop to what they
termed folly. Let the Company give six axes for a beaver if it chose;
for themselves they would countenance no such wantonness; two would
suffice.

The tribe being assembled and having spread out their customary gifts,
consisting of beaver tails, smoked moose tongues and pemmican, one of
the leading braves arose and said:--

"Men who pretend to give us life, do you wish us to die? You know what
beaver is worth and the trouble we have to take it. You call
yourselves our brothers and yet will not give us what those give who
make no such profession. Accept our gifts, and let us barter, or we
will visit you no more. We have but to travel a hundred leagues and we
will encounter the English, whose offers we have heard."

On the conclusion of this harangue, silence reigned for some moments.
All eyes were turned on the two white traders. Feeling that now or
never was the time to exhibit firmness, Radisson, without rising to
his feet, addressed the whole assemblage in haughty accents.

"Whom dost thou wish I should answer? I have heard a dog bark; when a
man shall speak he will see I know how to defend my conduct and my
terms. We love our brothers and we deserve their love in return. For
have we not saved them all from the treachery of the English?"

[Sidenote: Radisson overawes the Indians.]

Uttering these words fearlessly, he leapt to his feet and drew a long
hunting knife from his belt. Seizing by the scalp-lock the chief of
the tribe, who had already adopted him as his son, he asked, "Who art
thou?" To which the chief responded, as was customary, "Thy father."

"Then," cried Radisson, "if that is so, and thou art my father, speak
for me. Thou art the master of my goods; but as for that dog who has
spoken, what is he doing in this company? Let him go to his brothers,
the English, at the head of the Bay. Or he need not travel so far: he
may, if he chooses, see them starving and helpless on yonder island:
answering to my words of command."

"I know how to speak to my Indian father," continued Radisson, "of the
perils of the woods, of the abandonment of his squaws and children, of
the risks of hunger and the peril of death by foes. All these you
avoid by trading with us here. But although I am mightily angry I will
take pity on this wretch and let him still live. Go," addressing the
brave with his weapon outstretched, "take this as my gift to you, and
depart. When you meet your brothers, the English, tell them my name,
and add that we are soon coming to treat them and their factory yonder
as we have treated this one."

The speaker knew enough of the Indian character, especially in affairs
of trade, to be aware that a point once yielded them is never
recovered. And it is but just to say that the terms he then made of
three axes for a beaver were thereafter adopted, and that his firmness
saved the Company many a cargo of these implements. His harangue
produced an immediate impression upon all save the humiliated brave,
who declared that if the Assiniboines came hither to barter he would
lay in ambush and kill them.

The French trader's reply to this was to the Indian mind a terrible
one.

"I will myself travel into thy country," said he, "and eat sagamite in
thy grandmother's skull."

While the brave and his small circle of friends were livid with fear
and anger, Radisson ordered three fathoms of tobacco to be
distributed; observing, contemptuously, to the hostile minority that
as for them they might go and smoke women's tobacco in the country of
the lynxes. The barter began, and when at nightfall the Indians
departed not a skin was left amongst them.

[Sidenote: Departure of the English.]

It was now time to think of departure. As absent men tell no tales, it
was decided to despatch Bridgar and his companions first. But at the
last moment some trouble seems to have arisen as to which vessel the
English should have to convey them to more hospitable shores. Bridgar
himself would have preferred to go in the ship, and at first his
passage had been arranged for in that craft; but it was at length
settled that he should be carried with the brothers-in-law in their
barque.

After numerous vicissitudes, which would need a volume to describe,
the _St. Anne_ arrived at the mouth of the St. Lawrence.

At Tadoussac was a trading post belonging to the French: and the sight
of it seems to have inspired either one or both of these
conscienceless adventurers with the idea of lightening their load of
furs, which consisted of above two thousand skins, though this cargo
only represented about one-third of the number they had actually
secured by cheating, robbery and intrigue in the country of the Bay.

Having in this nefarious manner disposed of about half of La
Chesnaye's property jointly with themselves, they again set sail and
arrived at Quebec on the 26th of October.

Immediately on their arrival they went to report themselves to M. de
la Barre, the Governor, La Chesnaye being fortunately, or
unfortunately, absent in Montreal. The Governor thought proper to
return the _Susan_ to the New England merchants, with a warning not
to send again to the place from which she had just come, and the
Company's ill-starred Governor, Bridgar, together with young Gillam,
sailed on board her for New England.

"We parted," says Radisson with that matchless audacity of statement
for which his narrative deserves to be famous, "on friendly terms; and
he (Bridgar) could testify that I let him know at the time my
attachment; and yet, that I wished still to act as heartily in the
service of the King and the nation as I wished to do for France."

This hardly tallies with Bridgar's evidence before the Company, that
Radisson was "a cheat, a swindler, and a black-hearted, infamous
scoundrel," and that he was "a born intriguing traitor." As for the
elder Gillam, he was heard to declare, when he had at length arrived
on the frail and half-rotten craft which bore him and his unhappy
comrades to New England, that he would not die happy until his "hangar
had dipped into the blood of the French miscreant, Radisson."

[Sidenote: Radisson and Groseilliers leave Quebec.]

Quebec soon got too hot for both of the brothers-in-law. Between the
unfortunate La Chesnaye, who saw himself some thousand crowns out of
pocket, and the Governor, who had received orders from France to
despatch to the Court the two adventurers who seemed bent on making
trouble between the two crowns, Radisson and Groseilliers decided to
leave Quebec, which they did in about a fortnight after their arrival.

The exact date of their departure was the 11th of November, 1683, and
it was effected on board a French frigate which had brought troops to
the colony. But though the captain of the frigate made all haste, the
frail and shattered _St. Anne_, with Captain Gillam on board, arrived
in Europe before them; and soon England was ringing with his story of
the dastardly encroachment of the French into the realms of the
Company at Port Nelson.[18]

FOOTNOTE:

[18] The material for the two last chapters has been derived chiefly
from a pamphlet entitled "French Villainy in Hudson's Bay"; Radisson's
own narrative, and the "Journal" of Gillam, the elder, supplied to
Dongan. Radisson's narrative, divided into two parts, is written in a
clear, legible character, and evinces that its author was a person of
some education. The first part is in English, and was long the
property of Samuel Pepys. Some years after Pepys' death, the
manuscript was purchased for a trifle by Rawlinson, the bibliophile.
The second part, recounting the voyages to Hudson's Bay in 1682-84, is
half in French and half in English; it is now in the Bodleian library.




CHAPTER X.

1684-1687.

     Hays writes to Lord Preston -- Godey sent to Radisson's
     lodgings -- La Barre's strenuous efforts -- Radisson returns to
     the English -- He leaves for the Bay -- Meets his nephew
     Chouart -- Fort Bourbon surrendered to the Company --
     Radisson's dramatic return to London.


[Sidenote: Lord Preston informed of the return of Radisson and
Groseilliers.]

Lord Preston, who, in the year 1684, held the post of Ambassador
Extraordinary of King Charles II. at the Court of Versailles, was
advised of the return to Paris of the bushranger Radisson in these
terms:--

     "My Lord: It has just reached our ears and that of his Royal
     Highness the Duke of York, Governor of the Honourable Hudson's
     Bay Company, that the person who has caused all the recent
     trouble in the Hudson's Bay regions whereby our merchants have
     suffered so much at the hands of the French, is at this moment
     in Paris. As it is much in the interests of the nation as of
     the Company that there should be no repetition of these
     encroachments and disturbances, it might be advantageous for
     your Lordship to see this Mr. Radisson who, it is believed,
     could be brought over again to our service if he were so
     entreated by your Lordship. His Royal Highness, together with
     the other Honourable partners, are convinced from his previous
     conduct that it matters little to Mr. Radisson under whose
     standard he serves; and that, besides, he is secretly well
     disposed toward us, and this in spite of his late treacherous
     exploits which have given great offence to the nation and
     damage to the Company."

  [Illustration: CAPTAIN GODEY'S VISIT TO RADISSON.
   (_See page 112._)]

This private note was signed by Sir John Hays and Mr. Young on behalf
of the Company. On its receipt by Lord Preston, he at once sent his
attaché, Captain Godey, to seek out Radisson and make overtures to
him. On the third floor of a house in the Faubourg St. Antoine,
surrounded by a number of his relations and boon companions, the
dual traitor was discovered, deeply engaged in drinking healths and in
retailing his adventures to the applause of an appreciative circle.
Upon the walls and mantelpiece of the apartment, and such meagre
furniture as it boasted, were disposed numerous relics and trophies,
bespeaking a thirty years' career in the Transatlantic wilderness.

[Sidenote: Radisson's appearance in Paris.]

"Radisson himself," remarks Godey, "was apparelled more like a savage
than a Christian. His black hair, just touched with grey, hung in a
wild profusion about his bare neck and shoulders. He showed a swart
complexion, seamed and pitted by frost and exposure in a rigorous
climate. A huge scar, wrought by the tomahawk of a drunken Indian,
disfigured his left cheek. His whole costume was surmounted by a wide
collar of marten's skin; his feet were adorned by buckskin moccasins.
In his leather belt was sheathed a long knife." Such was the picture
presented by this uncouth, adventurous Huguenot, not merely in the
seclusion of his own lodgings, but to the polished and civilized folk
of Paris of the seventeenth century. What were the projects harboured
in this indomitable man's mind? In spite of his persistent intrigues
it is to be doubted if he, any more than Médard Chouart des
Groseilliers, was animated by more than a desire to pursue an exciting
and adventurous career. Habitually holding out for the best terms, he
does not appear to have saved money when it was acquired, but spent it
freely. When he died he was in receipt of a pension from the Company,
so far insufficient to provide for his manner of living that they were
forced to pay his remaining debts.

Unabashed by the surroundings thus presented to him, Captain Godey
announced himself, shook hands with the utmost cordiality with
Radisson, and pleaded to be allowed to join in the convivial
proceedings then in progress. The better to evince his sincerity,
without further ceremony he accepted and drank as full a bumper of bad
brandy and applauded with as much heartiness as any man of the party
the truly astonishing tales of their host.

Godey was the last of the guests to depart.

"Look you," said he, when he and Radisson were alone together, "you,
monsieur, are a brave man, and it does not become the brave to harbour
vengeance. Nor does it become a brave nation to think hardly of any
man because of his bravery, even though that nation itself be a
sufferer. You know," he pursued, "what is said about you in England?"

Radisson interrupted his guest by protesting with warmth that he
neither knew nor cared anything about such a matter.

"It is said, then," answered Godey, "that you have been a traitor to
the king, and that there is no authority or defence for your conduct.
You and Groseilliers, whilst professing friendship for the English
Company have done them great injury, and endangered the peace between
the two crowns."

"I am sorry," rejoined Radisson, "but all that I and my brother-in-law
have done, is to be laid at the door of the Hudson's Bay Company. We
wished honestly to serve them, but they cast us away as being no
longer useful, when now they see what it is they have done, and how
foolishly they have acted in listening to the counsels of Governor
Bridgar. We really bear them no ill-will, neither the Company nor his
Royal Highness."[19]

[Sidenote: Godey's report.]

The gallant emissary reported the tenor of this conversation forthwith
to his master, and both were agreed as to the sort of man they had to
deal with. Godey expressed himself convinced that there would be
little difficulty in inducing Radisson to return to the Company's
service. On this advice Preston at once wrote off to Mr. Young,
telling him not to further press the Company's memorial to the King,
nor to seek to have the French Court take cognizance of, and award
recompense for, the wrongs done the English interests. "Radisson has
done this thing out of his own head, and he is the one man competent
to undo it. He is, I learn, well-disposed to the English, and there is
no reason, if proper overtures be made him, why he should not do more
for the English interests in that region than he has yet done."

At the same time La Barre, the French Governor, was urged to make the
most strenuous efforts to retain the advantages for the French by the
two adventurers. A royal despatch of August 5th, 1683, and signed by
Lewis himself, had already been sent, in these words:--

     "I recommend you to prevent the English as much as possible
     from establishing themselves in Hudson's Bay, possession
     whereof was taken in my name several years ago; and as Colonel
     d'Unguent,[20] appointed Governor of New York by the King of
     England, has had precise orders on the part of the said King to
     maintain good correspondence with us and carefully to avoid
     whatever may interrupt it, I doubt not the difficulties you
     have experienced will cease for the future."

Lewis was by no means desirous of rendering the position of his fellow
monarch over the Channel uncomfortable. He was disposed to yield in a
small matter when he had his own way in most of the large ones. Had
Charles yielded to French representations about Port Nelson he would
have given great offence to his brother the Duke of York. Indeed,
there is little doubt that had the Company not boasted members of such
distinction, or the patronage of royalty, the French would have at
this juncture forced their demands and overwhelmed the English
possession. Radisson appears to have got wind of the situation and
this was, perhaps, to him a greater argument for returning to the
service of the power likely to be most permanent in Hudson's Bay. He,
however, hung about idle in Paris for some weeks, in a state of
indecision. Had M. de Seignely exerted his full powers of persuasion,
he might have induced our bushranger to remain in the service of
Lewis. But no such inducement was offered. There is some reason to
believe that M. de Seignely undervalued Radisson; but in any case the
apathy of the Court influenced his actions.

The bushranger was, on the other hand, exhorted to return to his first
engagement with the English, Lord Preston assuring him that if he
could in reality execute what he proposed, he would receive in England
from his Majesty, from his Royal Highness, from the Company, and from
the nation, "every sort of good treatment and entire satisfaction."
The Duke's especial protection was also guaranteed. Radisson, none too
punctilious, at length made up his mind as to the course he would
pursue.

"I yielded," says he, "to these solicitations and determined to go to
England forever, and so strongly bind myself to his Majesty's service,
and to that of those interested in the nation, that no other cause
could ever detach me from it."

[Sidenote: Radisson decides to join the English.]

But in order that he might have an excuse for his conduct, the very
day that he arrived at this decision he is found writing to the French
Minister demanding a certain grant in the north-west of Canada as an
alternative to a former proposal that "in consideration of his
discoveries, voyages and services he should be given every fourth
beaver, trapped or otherwise caught in those territories." M. de
Seignely had no suspicion of the depth of Radisson's duplicity. The
minister thought him "a vain man, much given to boasting, who could do
much harm, and had therefore best have his vanity tickled at home."

Up to the very eve of his departure, April 24, 1684, he was a daily
attendant on the minister or his subordinates of the Department of
Marine and Commerce. He was not always favoured with an audience; but
when listened to spoke vaguely of fitting out and equipping vessels
for trade on voyages similar to those he had already undertaken. His
_naiveté_, to use no harsher term, is remarkable.

"In order," says he, "that they should not suspect anything by my
sudden absence, I told them I was obliged to take a short trip into
the country on friendly family matters. _I myself made good use of
this time to go to London._"

He arrived in the English capital on the 10th of May, and immediately
paid his respects to Mr. Young. The project for regaining possession
of York Factory was canvassed. Radisson estimated that there would be
between fifteen and twenty thousands beaver skins in the hands of his
nephew, awaiting shipment. The partners appeared more than satisfied,
and Radisson met with a most cordial reception. He was assured that
the Company had entire confidence in him, and that their greatest
regret was that there had been any misunderstanding between them. They
would, it was declared on their behalf, make all amends in their
power.

For a few weeks the Hudson's Bay bushranger found himself a lion. He
was presented to the King in the course of a _levee_. Charles listened
with the greatest assumption of interest to the adventurer's account
of himself, and to his asseverations of loyalty and good will.
Radisson in the evening was taken to the play-house in the suite of
his Royal Highness, and there by his bizarre attire attracted almost
as much attention amongst the audience as the play itself.

"To the Duke's Play-house," writes John Selwyn to his wife, "where
Radisson, the American fur-hunter, was in the Royal box. Never was
such a combination of French, English and Indian savage as Sir John
Kirke's son-in-law. He was not wont to dress so when he was last here,
but he has got him a new coat with much lace upon it, which he wears
with his leather breeches and shoes. His hair is a perfect tangle. It
is said he has made an excellent fortune for himself."

[Sidenote: Radisson's departure for Hudson's Bay.]

After a number of conferences with the partners, Radisson finally
departed from Gravesend on May 17. Three ships set sail, that in which
Radisson was embarked being named the _Happy Return_. The elements
being favourable, the little fleet reached the Straits more speedily
than usual. The chief figure of this expedition, who had never borne a
part in any joint enterprise without being animated by jealousy and
distrust, found here ample scope for the exercise of his
characteristic vices. During nearly the entire period of the voyage he
evinced a perpetual and painful apprehension that one of the other
ships carrying officials and servants of the Company would, with
malicious intentions, arrive before him.

His first concern on awaking in the morning was to be assured that the
companion vessels were in sight, and although the _Happy Return_ was
the most sluggish sailor of the trio, yet to such good purpose were
plied the bushranger's energies and promises that her commander's
seamanship made her a capital match for the others.

But just before their destination was reached contrary winds, currents
and masses of floating ice brought about a separation, and Radisson
began to be assailed more than ever by the fear that the English
servants would arrive on the ground, overwhelm his nephew and the
other French without his assistance, and thus frustrate all his plans
for claiming sole credit. And in truth this fear was very nearly
justified. Twenty leagues from Port Nelson the ship got blocked amidst
the masses of ice, and progress, except at a raft's pace, became out
of the question. In this dilemma, Radisson demanded of the captain a
small boat and seven men. His request being granted, it was launched,
and after undergoing forty-eight hours' fatigue, without rest or
sleep, the entrance to Nelson River was reached. Imagine Radisson's
surprise, as well as that of his companions, on beholding two ships at
anchor, upon one of which, a complete stranger to them, floated the
Royal Standard of England.

[Sidenote: The presence of the French made known.]

It was the English frigate which had entered at Port Nelson. The other
ship was the _Alert_, commanded by Captain Outlaw, having brought out
the Company's new Governor, William Phipps, the previous season.
Radisson boldly headed his boat for this vessel, and when he drew
near, perceived Bridgar's successor, with all his people in arms, on
the quarter-deck. The Governor, in a loud voice, instantly demanded to
know who Radisson was. Upon his making himself and his allegiance
known, they decided to permit him to board the Company's ship. The
bushranger first made it his care to be informed how the land lay, and
he was inwardly rejoiced to learn that the Governor and his men had
not dared to land, out of fear for the French and Indians, who were
considered hostile to the English interests. This was precisely the
situation Radisson most desired; a thought seems to have struck him
that after all, his nephew, Chouart, might prove intractable, and by
no means so easily won over as he had anticipated. It therefore
behooved him to act with adroitness and circumspection. Taking with
him two men, Radisson proceeded up country in the direction of the
abandoned York Factory, hourly hoping that they might discover
something, or at least they should make someone hear, or see a
friendly Indian, by firing musket shots or making a smoke. The attempt
was not fruitless, as he tells us, for after a while they perceived
ten canoes with Indians coming down the river. "At first," he says, "I
thought some Frenchmen might be with them, whom my nephew might have
sent to discover who the new arrivals were." Upon this supposition
Radisson severed himself from his comrades, and going to meet the
savages he made the usual signs to them from the bank, which the
Indians at first seemed to respond to in no amiable spirit. Albeit, on
addressing them in their own tongue, he was immediately recognized,
the Indians testifying by shouts and playful postures to their joy at
his arrival. He quickly learned from them that his nephew and the
other Frenchmen were above the rapids, four leagues from the place
where they then were. They had expected Groseilliers would accompany
Radisson, and when they expressed surprise that this was not the case,
Radisson did not scruple to tell them that Groseilliers awaited him at
a short distance.

"But what," asked Radisson, "are you doing here? What brings you into
this part of the country and in such numbers?"

The savage leader's sudden confusion betrayed him to Radisson. The
circumstance of the Indians voluntarily seeking trade with the English
greatly simplified the situation.

"Look you," said he, heartily, at the same time calling to Captain
Geyer, who was in ambush hard by, "I am glad to find you seeking trade
with the English. I have made peace with the English for the love of
our Indian brothers; you, they and I are to be henceforth only one.
Embrace us, therefore, in token of peace; this (pointing to Geyer) is
your new brother. Go immediately to your son at the fort yonder and
carry him these tidings and the proofs of peace. Tell him to come and
see me at this place, while the others will wait for me at the mouth
of the river."

It should be mentioned that the chief of this band had previously
announced himself as young Chouart's sire, according to the Indian
custom. He now readily departed on his mission.

Radisson passed an anxious night. The sun had been risen some hours
before his eyes were gladdened by the sight of a canoe, in which he
descried Chouart. The young man's countenance bore, as well it might,
an expression of profound amazement; and at first hardly the bare
civilities of relationship passed between the pair. Chouart waited
patiently for his uncle to render an explanation of the news which had
reached him. Silently and slowly they walked together, and after a
time the prince of liars, traitors, adventurers and bushrangers began
his account of his position.

Radisson states that his nephew immediately acquiesced in his scheme.
A memoir penned in 1702, the year of Radisson's death, by M. Barthier,
of Quebec, asserts that the young man received with the utmost
disgust, and flatly declined to entertain, his relative's proposals.
He expressed, on the other hand, the greatest grief on hearing the
news; for he had begun to believe that it was through their efforts
that the dominion of the king had been extended in that region. Now it
appeared that this labour had all been in vain. It was only his love
for his mother, Radisson's sister, which prevented an open rebellion
on the part of Chouart against the proposed treachery.

[Sidenote: Chouart surrenders to Radisson.]

No rupture took place; the stronger and more crafty spirit prevailed.
Chouart surrendered on the following day his command of the fort. He
had, he complained, expected a far different fate for the place and
his men. The tattered old _fleur de lis_ standard brought by the _St.
Anne's_ captain from Quebec was lowered and the English emblem, with
the device of the Company, run up in its stead. All the forces were
assembled and amidst cheers for King Charles and the Honourable
Adventurers, the Company's Governor took formal possession.

But the French bushrangers and sailors watched these proceedings with
melancholy dissatisfaction, not, perhaps, as much from patriotic
motives as from the frailty of their own tenure. They could no longer
be assured of a livelihood amongst so many English, who bore
themselves with so haughty a mien.

Radisson proceeded to make an inventory of all the skins on hand,
together with all those concealed in _caches_ in the woods. The
results showed 239 packages of beaver, or about 12,000 skins, together
with merchandise sufficient to barter for seven or eight thousand
more. Instructions were now given by Radisson, the Governor remaining
passive, to have all these goods taken in canoes to the ships.

It now only remained for the bushranger to accomplish one other object
before setting sail with the cargo for England. Radisson speaks of
himself as having a secret commission, but no authority can be found
for his statement. It involved the retention in the Company's service
of his nephew and the other Frenchmen; but even assuming that Radisson
were armed with any such instructions, the plan was not likely to
enjoy the approval of Governor Phipps, who, if he were at the outset
of his term of office determined upon any one thing, it was that Fort
Nelson should be cleared of Frenchmen. Exactly how this was to be
arranged was not quite clear, especially as there was yet no open
rupture between the two authorities. But for such a rupture they had
not long to wait. They were destined on the very eve of his departure
to be involved in a quarrel.

[Sidenote: Dispute between Radisson and the Governor.]

Some years before an Assiniboine chief named Ka-chou-touay had taken
Radisson to his bosom and adopted him as his son with all the
customary ceremonies. This formidable chief, who had been at war with
a neighbouring tribe at the time of his adopted son's arrival in the
country, now put in an appearance. Instead of the joy Radisson
expected it was with reproaches that he was greeted. Ka-chou-touay
informed him that a brother chief of his, named La Barbé, with one of
his sons, had been killed while expostulating with a party of English.
The consequences of this rash action might be so grave that Radisson
felt it to be his duty to resort to the Governor and demand that his
servants should be punished for the crime, or else he would not be
answerable for the consequences. The Governor does not appear to have
taken Radisson's demand in good part, declining altogether to
intervene in the matter. The other now proceeded to commands and
threats. He asserted that as long as he remained in the country the
Governor was his subordinate, which greatly angered that official and
high words passed.

The task the Governor had set himself was by no means easy, especially
if he wished to avoid bloodshed. But the plan of overpowering and
disarming the French was finally accomplished through strategy. All
were escorted aboard the ship, even to Chouart himself, and on the
fourth of September sail was set.

On this voyage Radisson's state of mind rivalled that which he had
experienced when outward bound. His late anxiety to be the first upon
the scene at Port Nelson was paralleled now by his desire to be the
first in London. If happily, the Company should first hear an account
of what had transpired from himself, he felt convinced full measure of
justice would be done him. If, on the other hand, Governor Phipps'
relation were first received there was no knowing how much prejudice
might be raised against him.

Great as was his impatience, he managed to hide it with adroitness, so
that none save his nephew suspected the intention he shortly executed.
The captain, crew and Company's servants left the ship leisurely at
Portsmouth. Those going up to London lingered for the coach, but not
so with Radisson, who instantly made his way to the post-house, where
he hired a second-rate steed, mounted it and, without the courtesy of
an adieu to his late comrades, broke into a gallop, hardly restrained
until London bridge was reached.

[Sidenote: Phipps' letter to the Company.]

His arrival took place close upon midnight, but late as was the hour,
he took no thought of securing lodging or of apprising his wife of
his advent. He spurred on his stumbling horse to the dwelling of Mr.
Young, in Wood Street, Cheapside. The honourable adventurer had
retired for the night, but, nevertheless, in gown and night-cap
welcomed Radisson with great cordiality. He listened, we are told,
with the greatest interest and satisfaction to the bushranger's tale,
garnished with details of his own marvellous prowess and zeal for the
Company. Nor, perhaps, was Radisson less satisfied when, on attaining
his own lodging, he pondered on the day's exploits. He slumbered
little, and at eleven o'clock Young was announced, and was ushered in,
declaring that he had already been to Whitehall and apprised the Court
of the good news. His Majesty and his Royal Highness had expressed a
wish to see Radisson, the hero of these great doings, and Young was
accordingly brought to escort the bushranger into the Royal presence.
It was a triumph, but a short-lived one. Radisson had hardly left the
precincts of the Court, his ears still ringing with the praises of
King and courtiers, than the Deputy-Governor, Mr. Dering, received
Phipps' account of the affair, which was almost as unfair to Radisson
and the part he had played in the re-capture of Port Nelson, as
Radisson's own account was flattering.

On the receipt of the report, a General Court of the Adventurers was
held on September 26th. By the majority of members the bushranger was
hardly likely to be accorded full justice, for great offence had been
given by his presentation at Court and the extremely informal manner
of his arrival. Despite the friendliness of Hays, Young and several
other partners, Radisson was not again granted a position of authority
in the Company's service.

In the meanwhile young Chouart, being detained in England against his
wish, decided to write to Denonville and propose to accompany his
uncle to Port Nelson and make his escape and gain Quebec by land. The
Governor forwarded this letter to Paris and demanded permission to
promise fifty pistoles to those who would seize the traitor Radisson
and bring him to Quebec. The minister complied. But in March, 1687,
he had had no success. "The misfortune," says the minister, "that the
man Radisson has done to the colony, and that he is still capable of
doing if he remains longer amongst the English, should oblige
Denonville and Champagne to make every effort to seize him and so
judgment will be held out." Radisson did, it is true, make another
voyage to Hudson's Bay, but his sojourn was of brief duration, and a
plot set on foot to seize him failed.

Not long afterwards, "Peter Raddison" is found to be in receipt of a
pension of ten pounds a month from the Company, which he continued to
enjoy for many years to the time of his death at Islington, in 1702.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] As an example of the absurd legends current some years later, and
perpetuated, I am sorry to say, to a later day, it would be hard to
match this, from La Potherie:

"He (Preston) promised to Godey, one of his domestics, to create him
perpetual secretary of the Embassy, providing he engaged Radisson in
his party. Godey, the better to succeed, promised Radisson his
daughter in marriage, whom he (Radisson) espoused." (La Potherie, Vol.
I, p. 145.) Godey was _aide-de-camp_ to Preston; he may have had a
daughter, but Radisson certainly did not espouse her, inasmuch as he
was already married to Sir John Kirke's daughter, who was still
living.

[20] This is M. de la Barre's quaint fashion of spelling Dongan.




CHAPTER XI.

1683-1686.

     Feigned Anger of Lewis -- He writes to La Barre -- Importance
     Attached to Indian Treaties -- Duluth's zeal -- Gauthier de
     Comportier -- Denonville made Governor -- Capture of the
     _Merchant of Perpetuana_ -- Expedition of Troyes against the
     Company's Posts in the Bay -- Moose Fort Surrendered.


When the news of the expedition of 1684 reached the Court of
Versailles, Lewis professed anger that the peace between the two
crowns should be broken even in that remote corner of the world. He
related the discussion which had taken place between the English
ambassador and himself with regard to Radisson's treachery. He had
been happy, he said, to inform King Charles's representative that he
was unwilling to afford his "brother of England" any cause of
complaint. Nevertheless, as he thought it important to prevent the
English from establishing themselves in that river, it would be well
to make a proposal to the commandant at Hudson's Bay that neither
French nor English should have power to make any new establishments.

Long before that he had written to Governor La Barre, in no measured
terms, demanding of him what he meant by releasing the Boston vessel,
the _Susan_, without calling on the Intendant, or consulting the
sovereign council.

"You have herein done," said he, "just what the English would be able
to make a handle of, since in virtue of your ordinance you caused a
vessel to be surrendered which ought strictly to be considered a
pirate, as it had no commission; and the English will not fail to say
that you so fully recognized the regularity of the ship's papers as to
surrender it."

[Sidenote: Duluth in the West.]

Simultaneously with the receipt of this letter from his monarch, there
came to the perplexed Governor a letter from the Sieur Duluth, stating
that at great expense of presents he had prevented the western tribes
from further carrying their beaver trade to the English. He had, it
appeared, met the Sieur de la Croix with his two comrades, who had
presented the despatches in which the Governor had urged him to use
every endeavour in forwarding letters to Chouart, at Nelson River.

"To carry out your instructions," wrote Duluth, "there was only
Monsieur Péré, who would have to go himself, the savages having all at
that time withdrawn into the interior." He added that Péré had left
during the previous month, and doubtless at that time had accomplished
his mission. Duluth invariably expressed himself with great confidence
on the subject of the implicit trust which the savages reposed in him.
More than once in his letters, as well as in verbal messages forwarded
to his superiors, he boasted that before a couple of years were out
not a single savage would visit the English at Hudson's Bay. To this
end they had bound themselves by the numerous presents they had
received at his hands; and he was assured that they would not go back
on their word.

As with Duluth so with the other officials, pioneers and emissaries
amongst the French, great importance was attached to treaties and
compacts with the aborigines. Every endeavour was made to obtain the
good-will and amity of the Indians.

[Sidenote: French and English relations with the Indians.]

Perhaps nothing exhibits so powerfully the totally differing attitude
and motives of the Company, compared with the French traders, than the
manner in which, in those early times, the Red man was trusted and
believed by the one and distrusted and contemned by the other. One may
peruse neither the narratives of the Jesuits nor of the traders
without an emotion of awe at the simple faith of those pioneers in the
honesty and probity of the Red men. To the very end, when disaster
succeeding disaster overwhelmed the propaganda of Loyola amongst the
northern tribes and exterminated its disciples, we read of the
Frenchman trusting to the word and deferring to the prejudices of his
Indian brother. It was as if the latter were indeed of a common
steadfastness and moral nature with his own. Contrast that trait in
the English character which is exhibited in his early dealings with
inferior and black peoples in India and Africa, to that he has
retained to the present day. Never was the contrast greater than
during the acute conflict of English and French interests in Hudson's
Bay at this time. The early governors and traders almost without
exception openly despised the Indian and secretly derided his most
solemn counsels. August treaties were set aside on the most flimsy
pretexts, and if the virtues of the savages were too highly esteemed
by the French, they were on the other hand perhaps much too cheaply
held by their rivals.

But to whatever extent they may have held themselves bound by compacts
of this kind, the Company's officials were not so foolish as to doubt
their potency amongst savages. Thus we find that from the years 1682
to 1688 the Company regularly instructed its servants to enact the
strongest treaties with the "captains and kings of the rivers and
territories where they had settlements." "These compacts," observes
one of the Company's servants, "were rendered as firm and binding as
the Indians themselves could make them. Ceremonies of the most solemn
and sacred character accompanied them."

Duluth had already built a fort near the River à la Maune, at the
bottom of Lake Nepigon, and thither he expected at least six of the
northern nations to resort in the spring. Lest this should not be
sufficient for the purpose he designed building another in the
Christineaux River, which would offer an effectual barrier to the
expansion of the English trade. With characteristic zeal Duluth, in a
letter written at this time, concluded with these words:

"Finally, sir, I wish to lose my life if I do not absolutely prevent
the savages from visiting the English."

But with every good will to serve his monarch and stifle in infancy
the growing trade of the Hudson's Bay Company in the northern regions,
Duluth vastly undervalued the forces of circumstance as well of
enterprise at the command of the enemy. The plans of the French were
destined to be confounded by the unforeseen and treacherous action of
Radisson and Chouart in the following year.

"What am I to do?" now became the burden of La Barre's appeals to the
King. The young priest who acted as his secretary at Quebec was kept
perpetually writing to Versailles for instructions. His letters are
long, and filled with explanations of the situation, which only served
to confuse his superiors. Fearful of offending the English on one hand
and thereby precipitating New France in a war with New England, and on
the other of arousing the resentment of the colonists by a supine
behaviour, the unhappy Denonville was in an unpleasant dilemma.

"Am I to oppose force to force?" he asks in one letter. "Am I to
venture against those who have committed these outrages against your
Majesty's subjects at sea? It is a matter in which your Majesty will
please to furnish me with some precise and decisive orders whereunto I
shall conform my conduct and actions."

[Sidenote: Lewis unwilling to oppose the English.]

But the Most Christian King was by no means anxious to quarrel with
his cousin Charles either for the dominion of, or the fur-trade
monopoly in, the north. Charles was in possession of a handsome
subsidy paid out of the exchequer of Lewis. Europe was spectator of
the most cordial relations between these two monarchs, relations which
are described by more than one candid historian as those commonly
subsisting between master and vassal. That tempest of indignation
which was to break over England in the reign of Charles's successor
would have not so long been deferred had but a real knowledge of the
"good understanding and national concord" been known to Englishmen at
large.

Under the circumstances it is not surprising that Lewis concluded to
do nothing. It was not that opportunities to regain what was lost were
lacking. An old soldier, Gauthier de Comportier, who with a number of
other patriots had learned of the jeopardy in which French interests
lay in the north, presented a memoir to the King offering, if a grant
were made him, to win all back from the English and to establish three
posts on the Bourbon River. The grant was refused.

A change then came which altered the aspect of affairs.

In February, 1685, Charles II. died, and the Duke of York, second
Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, ascended the throne of England.
Lewis was not the last to perceive that the accession of James would
cause but little real difference, as the latter and himself were bound
together by ties as strong as had bound Charles, yet saw at the same
time that full advantage might safely be reaped from the change of
monarchs. Proceedings were instantly therefore set on foot to retrieve
the fortunes of the French in the fur countries.

The conduct of Groseilliers and Radisson had deeply offended the
inhabitants of Quebec. An excited populace burnt the pair in effigy,
and a decree was issued for their arrest should they at any time be
apprehended, and for their delivery to those whom they had betrayed.
But it was the anger of La Chesnaye and his associates of the Company
which was especially strong. An expedition which they had sent out to
Port Nelson, with the intention of collecting the wealth in peltries,
returned to the St. Lawrence without so much as a single beaver.

The success of the English made some decided action on the part of the
French inevitable. La Barre was recalled and his successor, the
Marquis de Denonville, determined to take matters into his own hands,
rather than see the interests of New France in the Bay suffer. He
relied upon the success of the expedition to atone for the boldness of
the initiative, but his action was not taken without repeated warnings
addressed to the Minister. "All the best of our furs, both as to
quality and quantity, we must expect to see shortly in the hands of
the English." If the English were not expelled they would secure all
the fat beaver from an infinite number of tribes in the north who were
being discovered every day; besides abstracting the greater portion of
the peltries that ordinarily reached them at Montreal through the
Ottawas, Assiniboines and other tribes.[21]

[Sidenote: The French capture a Company's ship.]

In the month of July, 1685, two ships belonging to the French Company,
returning in disappointment to Canada from Port Nelson, met, at the
mouth of the Straits, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's vessels named
the _Merchant of Perpetuana_, commanded by one Edward Humes. She was
bound for York Fort with a cargo of merchandise and provisions. No
time was lost on the part of the French in intercepting her. Captain
Humes not surrendering with sufficient alacrity to please the enemy,
the _Merchant of Perpetuana_ was boarded and forcibly possessed in the
name of King Lewis. Several English sailors lost their lives. The
vessel having been seized in this manner, her prow was headed for
Quebec, where her master and crew were summarily cast into gaol.

After a miserable confinement, lasting eleven months, the sufferings
of Captain Humes ended with his death, and the other prisoners,
exposed to the insults and indignities of the Quebec populace, were
ultimately sent away to Martinique on board their own ship, and there
sold as slaves. The mate, Richard Smithsend by name, managed to
escape. Upon reaching London the tale he unfolded to his employers
excited general indignation. A memorial of the outrage, couched in
vigorous language, was presented to the King, but James, resolved not
to give offence to his friend and ally the Most Christian King, took
no notice of the matter.

Amongst the French in Canada there were not wanting bold spirits to
follow up this daring stroke. Chief amongst them, not merely for the
character of his achievements, but for his uncommon and romantic
personality, was the Chevalier de Troyes. This Canadian nobleman, who
was of advanced years, was a retired captain in the army. He believed
he now saw an opportunity to win a lasting distinction, and to rival,
and perhaps surpass, the exploits of Champlain, Lusson, Frontenac and
the other hero-pioneers of New France. Scholarly in his tastes, and
frail of body, though by profession a soldier, he emerged from privacy
on Christmas Eve, 1685, and asked of the Governor a commission to
drive the English utterly from the Northern Bay.

The authority the old soldier sought for was granted. He was empowered
to "search for, seize and occupy the most advantageous posts, to seize
the robbers, bushrangers and others whom we know to have taken and
arrested several of our French engaged in the Indian trade, whom we
order him to arrest, especially the said Radisson and his adherents
wherever they may be found, and bring them to be punished as
deserters, according to the rigour of the ordinances." The rigour of
the ordinances was death.

Fourscore Canadians were selected to form part of the expedition
against the Hudson's Bay Company's posts by the Chevalier de Troyes.
For his lieutenants, the leader chose the three sons of a nobleman of
New France named Charles Le Moine. One, the eldest, a young man of
only twenty-five, was to bear an enduring distinction in the annals of
France as one of her most able and intrepid naval commanders. This was
the Sieur d'Iberville. His brothers, taking their names, as he had
done, from places in their native land, were called the Sieurs de
Sainte Hèlène and de Marincourt. Thirty soldiers were directly
attached to the Chevalier's command, veterans who had, almost to a
man, seen service in one or other of the great European wars. That
they might not be without the ministrations of religion, Father
Sylvie, a Jesuit priest, accompanied the expedition.

[Sidenote: Expedition of de Troyes.]

"The rivers," writes a chronicler of the Troyes expedition, "were
frozen and the earth covered with snow when that small party of
vigorous men left Montreal in order to ascend the Ottawa River as far
as the height of land and thence to go down to James' Bay." At the
beginning of April they arrived at the Long Sault, where they prepared
some canoes in order to ascend the Ottawa River. From Lake
Temiscamingue they passed many portages until they reached Lake
Abbitibi, at the entrance or most southern extremity of which they
built a small fort of stockades. After a short halt they continued
their course towards James' Bay.

The establishment first doomed to conquest by Troyes and his
companions was Moose Factory, a stockade fort having four bastions
covered with earth. In the centre was a house forty feet square and as
many high, terminating in a platform. The fort was escaladed by the
French late at night and the palisades made short work of by the
hatchets of their bushrangers.

Amongst the garrison none appears to have attempted a decent defence
save the chief gunner, who perished bravely at his post of duty.[22] A
cry for quarter went up and the English were made prisoners on the
spot. They were sixteen in number, and as the attack was made at night
they were in a state of almost complete undress. Troyes found in the
fort twelve cannon, chiefly six and eight-pounders, three thousand
pounds of powder and ten pounds of lead.

[Sidenote: Capture of Moose Factory.]

It is worthy of record that the capture was effected with an amount of
pomp and ceremony calculated to strike the deepest awe into the hearts
of those fifteen unhappy and not too intelligent Company's
apprentices, who knew nothing of fighting nor had bargained for
anything so perilous. For so small a conquest it was both preceded and
followed by almost as much circumstance as would have sufficed for the
Grand Monarque himself in one of his theatrical sieges. The Chevalier
announced in a loud voice that he took possession of the fort and
island "in the name of his Most Christian Majesty the Most High, Most
Mighty, Most Redoubtable Monarch Lewis XIV. of the Most Christian
Name, King of France and Navarre." In obvious imitation of Lusson, a
sod of earth was thrice raised in the air, whilst a cry of "Vive le
Roi" rang out over those waters wherein were sepultured the bodies of
Henry Hudson and his men.

       *       *       *       *       *

NOTE.--The career of the Chevalier de Troyes ended abruptly and
tragically in 1687, when he and all his men, to the number of ninety,
were massacred at Niagara.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] Our Frenchmen have seen quite recently from Port Nelson some
Indians who were known to have traded several years ago at Montreal.
The posts at the head of the Bay Abbitibi and Nemisco can be reached
through the woods and seas; our Frenchmen are acquainted with the
road. But in regard to the posts occupied by the English in the River
Bourbon or Port Nelson it is impossible to hold any posts below them
and convey merchandise thither except by sea. Some pretend that it is
feasible to go thence overland; but the river to reach that quarter
remains yet to be discovered, and when discovered could only admit the
conveyance of a few men and not of any merchandise. In regard to
Hudson's Bay, should the King not think proper for enforcing the
reasons his Majesty has for opposing the usurpation of the English on
his lands, by the just titles proving his Majesty's possession long
before the English had any knowledge of the country, nothing is to be
done but to find means to support the Company of the said Bay, formed
in Canada, by the privilege his Majesty has been pleased this year to
grant to all his subjects of New France; and to furnish them for some
years with a few vessels of 120 tons, well armed and equipped. I hope
with this aid our Canadians will support this business, which will
otherwise perish of itself; whilst the English merchants, more
powerful than our Canadians, will with good ships continue their
trade, whereby they will enrich themselves at the expense of the
Colony and the King's revenue.--Despatch of Denonville, 12th November,
1685.

[22] Iberville declares that he split his head into fragments.




CHAPTER XII.

1686-1689.

     The French Attack upon Fort Rupert -- Governor Sargeant
     Apprised -- Intrepidity of Nixon -- Capture of Fort Albany --
     Disaster to the _Churchill_ -- The Company Hears the ill News
     -- Negotiations for Colonial Neutrality -- Destruction of New
     Severn Fort -- Loss of the _Hampshire_ -- The Revolution.


Undecided whether to next attack Fort Rupert or Fort Albany, the
Chevalier de Troyes was prompted to a decision through learning that a
boat containing provisions had left Moose Factory on the previous day
bound for Rupert's River. Iberville was therefore sent with nine men
and two bark canoes to attack a sloop belonging to the Company then
lying at anchor at the mouth of the latter river with fourteen souls
aboard, including the Governor. To accomplish this stroke it was
necessary to travel forty leagues along the sea coast. The road was
extremely difficult and in places almost impassable. A shallop was
constructed to carry a couple of small cannon, and on the 25th of June
Troyes left for Fort Rupert.

St. Hèlène was sent on in advance to reconnoitre the establishment. He
returned with the information that it was a square structure, flanked
by four bastions, but that all was in a state of confusion owing to
repairs and additions then being made to the fort. The cannon had not
yet been placed, being temporarily accommodated outside on the slope
of a redoubt.

Before the attack, which could only have one issue, was made by the
land forces, Iberville had boarded the Company's sloop, surprised
captain and crew, and made all, including Governor Bridgar, prisoners.
Four of the English were killed.

After this exploit Iberville came ashore, rejoined his superior and
overpowered the almost defenceless garrison of Fort Rupert.

The French forces now united, and St Hèlène having been as successful
as his brother in securing the second of the Company's ships, all
embarked and sailed for the remaining post of the Company in that part
of the Bay.

       *       *       *       *       *

Neither Troyes nor Iberville knew its precise situation; but a little
reconnoitring soon discovered it. Fort Albany was built in a sheltered
inlet forty yards from the borders of the Bay. Two miles to the
north-east was an _estrapade_ on the summit of which was placed a seat
for a sentinel to sight the ships expected from England and to signal
them if all was well. But on this morning, unhappily, no sentinel was
there to greet with a waving flag the Company's ship, on the deck of
which young Iberville stood.

[Sidenote: Attack on Fort Albany.]

Two Indians, however, brought Governor Sargeant tidings of the
approach of the enemy, and his previous successes at Moose and Rupert
rivers. The Governor immediately resolved upon making a bold stand;
all was instantly got in readiness to sustain a siege, and the men
were encouraged to behave with fortitude. Two hours later the booming
of cannon was heard, and soon afterwards a couple of skirmishers were
sighted at a distance. Despite the Governor's example, the servants at
the fort were thrown into the greatest confusion. Two of their number
were deputed by the rest to inform the Governor that they were by no
means disposed to sacrifice their lives without provision being made
for themselves and families in case of a serious issue. They were
prevailed upon by the Governor to return to their posts, and a bounty
was promised them. Bombardment by the French soon afterwards began,
and lasted for two days, occasionally replied to by the English. But
it was not until the evening of the second day that the first fatality
occurred, when one of the servants was killed, and this brought about
a mutiny. Elias Turner, the chief gunner, declared to his comrades
that it was impossible for the Governor to hold the place and that,
for his part, he was ready to throw himself on the clemency of the
French. Sargeant overhearing this declaration, drew his pistol and
threatened to blow out the gunner's brains if he did not return to
his post, and this form of persuasion proved effective. The French now
profited by the darkness to bring their cannon through the wood closer
to the fort; and by daybreak a series of heavy balls struck the
bastions, causing a breach. Bridgar and Captain Outlaw, then at Fort
Albany, were convinced that the enemy was undermining the powder
magazine, in which case they would certainly be blown up.

The French from the ship had thrown up a battery, which was separated
from the moat surrounding the fort by less than a musket shot. None
ventured to show himself above ground at a moment of such peril. A
shell exploded at the head of the stairway and wounded the cook. The
cries of the French could now be distinctly heard outside the
fort--"Vive le Roi, vive le Roi." In their fright and despair the
English echoed the cry "Vive le Roi," thinking thereby to propitiate
their aggressors. But the latter mistook the cry for one of defiance,
as a token of loyalty to an altogether different monarch, and the
bullets whistled faster and thicker. Sargeant desired to lower the
flag floating above his own dwelling, but there was none to undertake
so hazardous a task. Finally Dixon, the under-factor, offered to show
himself and propitiate the French. He first thrust a white cloth from
a window and waved a lighted torch before it. He then called in a loud
voice, and the firing instantly ceased. The under-factor came forth,
fully dressed, and bearing two huge flagons of port wine. Walking
beyond the parapets he encountered both Troyes and Iberville, and by
the light of a full moon the little party of French officers and the
solitary Englishman sat down on the mounted cannon, or on the ground
beside it, broached the two flagons and drank the health of the two
kings, their masters.

"And now, gentlemen," said Dixon, "what is it you want?"

"Possession of your fort in the name of his Most Christian Majesty,
King Lewis XIV."

Dixon, explaining that he was not master there, offered to conduct
this message to Sargeant, and in a very short time the French
commanders were seated comfortably within the house of the Governor.
The demand was again preferred, it being added that great offence had
been given by the action of the English in taking captive three French
traders, the previous autumn, and keeping them prisoners on ground
owned and ruled by the King of France. For this reason reparation was
demanded, and Sargeant was desired at once to surrender the fort. The
Governor was surprised at such extreme measures, for which he was
totally unprepared, but was willing to surrender upon terms of
capitulation. On the following morning these were arranged.

[Sidenote: Capitulation of the fort.]

It was agreed that Sargeant should continue to enjoy all his personal
effects; and further, that his deputy, Dixon, three domestics and his
servant, should accompany him out of the fort. It was also agreed that
Troyes should send the clerks and servants of the Company to Charlton
Island, there to await the arrival of the Company's ships from
England. In case of their non-arrival within a reasonable time, Troyes
promised to assist them to such vessel as he could command for the
purpose. The Frenchman also gave Sargeant the provisions necessary to
keep him and his companions from starvation. All quitted the fort
without arms, save Sargeant and his son, whose swords and pistols hung
at their sides. The Governor and his suite were provided with passage
to Hays Island, where he afterwards made his escape to Port Nelson.
The others were distributed between Forts Moose and Albany, and were
treated with considerable severity and hardship.

Having attended to the disposition of his prisoners and their
property, Troyes, accompanied by Iberville, departed on 10th August
for Montreal. The gallant Chevalier and his associates would have been
glad to have pursued their successes, by crossing the Bay and
capturing York Factory. But although two ships belonging to the
Company had fallen to their lot, yet they could find none competent to
command them. The distance between Albany and Port Nelson was by water
two hundred and fifty leagues, and the road overland was as yet
unknown to the French. But it was not their purpose that it should
long remain so. In a letter to his official superior at Quebec,
Denonville, pursuing his way amongst the tribes of the Upper
Mississippi region, boasted that the next year would not pass without
their becoming acquainted with it.

Wherefore Troyes suffered himself to be prevailed upon by Iberville,
and be content with the victories already won. They carried with them
in their journey more than 50,000 beaver as a trophy of their arms.
Many of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants were employed in bearing
the spoils. Along the dreary march several of these unhappy captives
were killed through the connivance of the French with the Indians; and
the survivors reached Quebec in a dreadfully emaciated and halt
condition.

Troyes' victories were ludicrously exaggerated: his return, therefore,
was attended with much pomp.

[Sidenote: French prisoners taken by the "Churchill."]

Ignorant of Troyes and his conquests, the Company sent out its annual
expedition as usual in 1687. In the autumn of this year the
_Churchill_ was caught in the ice near Charlton Island. Iberville was
quickly apprised of this mishap, and sent a party of four across the
ice to reconnoitre. They appear to have been somewhat careless, for,
while one sank down from utter exhaustion, the others were surprised
by the Company's crew, seized and bound. One of the three, however,
managed to escape the fate of his companions, who were manacled and
placed in the bottom of the ship's hold, where they passed the winter.

But the three Frenchmen enjoyed no monopoly of misfortune. The captain
of the ship, while hunting on the island in the early days of spring,
lost his life by drowning; and there were numerous minor calamities.
In May, preparation was made for departure, and as the English were
short-handed the two Frenchmen were forced to lend their aid. This
they did willingly, glad to exchange the open air of heaven for that
of the hold of the ship. One day, while most of the crew were aloft,
one of the Frenchmen, perceiving only two of his captors on deck,
furtively secured an axe. With this implement he silently split the
skulls of both men, and then ran to release his comrade temporarily
chained below. The pair seized fire-arms which they came upon in a
corner of the hold, and brandishing these in skilful fashion, they
suddenly changed from captives into masters. In opprobrious terms and
with violent gesticulations they dared the crew to come down from the
rigging, or indeed to lay a hand upon the fringe of a shroud; and
while one watched with two drawn pistols in hand the shivering seamen
in the shrouds and rigging, the other steered the ship towards
Rupert's River. How long this drama might have lasted it is hard to
say, for within a few hours Iberville and his ship hove in sight. He
had fitted out an expedition to rescue his men as soon as the ice
would permit, and now came and took charge of the _Churchill_ and all
on board.

[Sidenote: News of the disaster reaches England.]

The tidings of this expedition of the Chevalier Troyes, following
close upon the harrowing tale of Smithsend, the mate of the _Merchant
of Perpetuana_, excited the Adventurers to a pitch of fury. An
extraordinary general meeting was held and London was placarded with
an account of the outrages. A news-letter was issued at the Company's
expense detailing the events, and carrying them into the remotest
parts of the kingdom. Lord Churchill, who had succeeded King James in
the governorship of the Company, personally presented a petition of
the outraged Company of Adventurers to the King, wherein it was prayed
"that James would be pleased to afford them his Royal assistance and
Protection and that Your Majesty will demand and procure satisfaction
to be made them for all losses and damages they have suffered as well
formerly as by this last invasion."

It is now necessary to mention what had been happening between the two
crowns between 1685 and 1688.

In the first named year, in response to the pressure brought to bear
upon both by their subjects, James had agreed with Lewis to appoint a
joint commission to examine into the disputes between the two nations
and, if possible, effect a pacific settlement.

Their respective possessions in America were giving the two Crowns so
much trouble and expense that they were ready to welcome any
arrangement which would reduce the burden. War between England and
France in the old days had been a simple matter, confined to
contiguous territory of whose geography and physical features they
knew something. But now the mother countries could not offer each
other hostilities without a score or so of their offspring colonies
springing at each other's throats.

If war between France and England could only be confined to war
between France and England, and not be allowed to spread itself over
innumerable savage tribes and dependencies in North America, it was
felt that a great end would thereby be gained.

[Sidenote: Negotiations for Colonial neutrality.]

The point sought by both kings was to make America neutral. Such a
thing would have been excellent, had it but been possible. But the
futility of such an arrangement was instantly made manifest. Both
races in America were too eager and too anxious to reap the advantages
of war. It was not likely that the Colonial English would allow a rich
prize to pass them, only to be seized a hundred leagues farther east
by the home authorities. The Colonial French were not to be expected
in time of war to suffer tamely from competition in the fur-trade,
when the very principles of their allegiance urged them to forcible
retaliation.

Even without the episode of the _Merchant of Perpetuana_ the rivalry
between the two nations for the fur-trade was so bitter as to be a
perpetual danger to peace. For this reason, and in order to mark some
delimitation to the trade of the two countries, the joint commission
had sat and examined into the matter.

On the sixth of November, 1686, a treaty of neutrality had been
concluded between the two kings. It stipulated for a "firm peace,
union and concord, and good understanding between the subjects" of
James and Lewis. No vessels of either sovereign were thereafter to be
employed in attacking the subjects of the other in any of the
colonies. No soldiers of either king stationed in any of the colonies
were to engage in any act of hostility such as giving aid or succour
to men, or provisions to savages, at war with one another. But the
fourth article of this treaty was productive of much confusion and
misunderstanding.

"It has been agreed," it ran, "that each of the said kings shall hold
the domains, rights, pre-eminences in the seas, straits and other
waters of America which, and in the same extent, of right belongs to
them; and in the same manner which they enjoy at present."

Now, at the very moment this treaty was signed, the French, by the
victory of Troyes, were in possession of Fort Albany and the English
still held Port Nelson. As the liberty of navigation was not disturbed
by the Treaty it would appear that the French retained the right to
sail in the Bay.

Commissioners were appointed to consider the carrying out of the
treaty, the Sieurs Barillon and Bonrepas acting on behalf of France,
and Lords Sutherland, Middleton and Godolphin for James. To these
commissioners the Company presented a further memorial, which dwelt
upon their grievances "for five years past, in a time of peace and
good correspondence between the two crowns."

[Sidenote: Impracticability of the Treaty.]

These commissioners appear to have done their best to arrange matters
satisfactorily; but such a result was impossible under the conditions.
They were privately instructed by their respective masters to agree to
hold the trade of Port Nelson in common. Such a proposal was extremely
impracticable, as that well-informed subject, Denonville, made haste
to inform his royal master. The proximity of the English, he declared,
in such a remote part would be a certain source of hostility on both
sides, and a dangerous temptation for numbers of "libertines," whom
the least dissatisfaction would induce to take refuge at Port Nelson.

The "libertines" he thus alluded to were the bushrangers, who were
already giving the French great trouble and uneasiness through their
wild, undisciplined habits and their freedom from restraint.
Denonville added that the Hudson's Bay Company, paying higher prices
for beaver than the French could do, would always have a preference,
and consequently would almost monopolize the trade. It was therefore
better, in his opinion, to effect a compromise in the Bay, restoring
the three forts Troyes had taken in exchange for Port Nelson, which,
so he stated, was worth more than the other three together for trading
purposes. Besides, on the first rupture, it would be very easy to
retake them by an overland march, as Troyes had done.

But such proposals on the part of the French were indignantly rejected
by the English Company. There was, therefore, nothing for it but a
_modus vivendi_, under which no further encroachments in the Bay were
to be made by either party.

But whatever the intent of the negotiations, there was nothing to
compel the parties directly interested to observe them. The elated
French Company was too much inclined to retain what Troyes had wrested
from the English to adhere to sophistries and weak-kneed arguments. It
engaged Iberville to return to Fort Albany, upon which establishment
it had bestowed the name of St. Anne, and repulse the English should
their ships arrive and endeavour to land. Captain Moon, returning from
Port Nelson, did make an attempt with twenty-four men to surprise the
French. He built a station some eight miles distant; but Iberville
heard of it, marched thither with great despatch, and pursued them for
twenty miles. He then made preparations for seizing Captain Moon's
ship, embarking upwards of forty men in canoes and small boats for
this purpose. But those aboard her defeated his intention in the
night, by setting her on fire and making their escape to the shore,
where they rejoined their companions and made the best of their way
overland to New Severn, a fort which had been erected in the previous
year as a means of drawing trade away from the French conquerors in
the eastern parts of the Bay.

Iberville was not long ignorant of the retreat of those who had
escaped him; nor of the prosperity which attended the new factory. He
arrived before New Severn in October, 1689, obtained its surrender
and took the Company's Governor prisoner.

Amongst the Governor's papers which he seized was a letter from the
secretary of the Company, ordering him, on behalf of the partners, to
proclaim the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen of England,
showing that the chief spirits of the Company were not unfriendly to
those who precipitated the Revolution.

Glorying in this new exploit, Iberville now returned to Fort St. Anne,
just in time to behold the spectacle of two strange ships standing off
in the Bay.

The presence of these vessels was explained by the Company having sent
out an expedition, comprising eighty-three men of both crews, with
instructions to land on an island close to the Chechouan River and
establish a fort, from whence they could sally forth to the
re-conquest of Fort Albany. But already the winter had overtaken them,
and the two vessels were locked in the ice. Their fort was, however,
pretty well advanced, and they had landed a number of pieces of
cannon. Iberville lay in ambush and, watching his opportunity, when
twenty-one of the English were proceeding for a supply of stores to
the ship, intercepted them. The whole party fell into the hands of the
French; and Marincourt, with fourteen men, now began to reconnoitre
the forces on the island. A brisk cannonading ensued between the two
parties. After this had lasted some days Iberville found means to
summon the Company's commander to surrender, threatening him with no
quarter if he deferred compliance.

[Sidenote: Surrender of the Company's ships to the French.]

[Sidenote: Iberville's treacherous plan.]

To this the Governor responded that he had been given to understand on
his departure from London that there was a treaty in force between the
two Crowns, and that it occasioned him much astonishment that the
French paid so little heed to it. Iberville's response was not exactly
truthful, for he declared that whether a treaty existed or not he had
not been the first to invade it; and that in any case he could waste
no time in parley. The Governor replied that his force was still a
strong one; but that he would not be averse to surrender if Iberville
would agree to reimburse the Company's officers out of the proceeds of
their store of furs; and also accord them a vessel wherewith to sail
away. This stipulation was granted; Iberville grimly remarking that it
was extraordinary what a large number of officers there were for so
small a company of men. He had already captured the captain of one of
the vessels and the surgeon; and there now remained thirteen others
who thus escaped scot-free from the clutches of the French. The amount
of wages demanded was close upon two thousand pounds. All the others
were made prisoners, including the pilots, of whom it is said there
were a number who had been despatched by the Admiralty to acquire a
knowledge of the Bay and Straits. All were carried off by Iberville to
Quebec, and Marincourt left behind with thirty-six men to guard the
two posts. The young commander did not this time proceed overland, but
having got possession of the Company's ship, the _Hampshire_, he
sailed northward for the Straits. He had scarcely reached the latitude
of Southampton Island when an English ship hove in sight, proceeding
in his direction. They came so close together as to exchange speech.
Iberville had taken the precaution to hoist the English flag, and the
presence of the prisoners caused implicit belief in his friendly
pretensions. He learned that young Chouart, Radisson's nephew, was on
board, and declares that he longed to attack openly the Company's
ship, but the insufficiency of his force to guard the prisoners
prevented him taking this course. He had, however, recourse to a
stratagem which nearly succeeded. The captain of the other ship agreed
to sail together in company through the Straits, and on the first
clear weather to pay a visit to Iberville's ship. It was, it is almost
needless to observe, the Frenchman's intention to seize the guileless
Englishman and his companions the moment they had reached his deck.
But storms intervening, this project fell through. The ships separated
and did not meet again.

The Hudson's Bay Company was not a little puzzled at the non-arrival
of the _Hampshire_, which had been spoken thus happily in Hudson's
Straits. For a long time the vessel was believed to be lost; as,
indeed, she was, but not quite in the manner apprehended by her
owners. Possession was not regained for some years; and when the
_Hampshire_ sailed again for the Bay it was to encounter there
complete destruction in battle.

As has been foreshadowed, in 1689 an event occurred which had been
brewing ever since James had relinquished the governorship of the
Company for the governorship of his subjects at large. William of
Orange landed at Plymouth, and the Revolution in England put a new
king on the English throne.




CHAPTER XIII.

1689-1696.

     Company's Claims Mentioned in Declaration of War -- Parliament
     Grants Company's Application for Confirmation of its Charter --
     Implacability of the Felt-makers -- Fort Albany not a Success
     in the hands of the French -- Denonville urges an Attack upon
     Fort Nelson -- Lewis Despatches Tast with a Fleet to Canada --
     Iberville's Jealousy prevents its Sailing to the Bay --
     Governor Phipps Burns Fort Nelson -- Further Agitation on the
     part of the French to Possess the West Main -- Company Makes
     another attempt to Regain Fort Albany -- Fort Nelson
     Surrendered to Iberville -- Its Re-conquest by the Company.


Upon William the Third's accession to the throne, the Company renewed
its claims to its property, and for reparation for the damages it had
suffered at the hands of the French in time of peace.

"As to the article of the Company's losses, it will appear," it said,
"by a true and exact estimate, that the French took from the Company,
in full peace between 1682 and 1688, seven ships with their cargoes,
and six forts and factories, from which they carried away great stores
of goods laid up for trading with the Indians. The whole amounts to
£38,332 15s."

To such effect was this memorial presented to the King that William
caused the hostile proceedings of Lewis in the Company's territory to
be inserted in one of the articles of his Declaration of War, in these
words:--

     "But that the French King should invade our Caribbee Islands
     and possess himself of our territories of the Province of New
     York and Hudson's Bay, in hostile manner, seizing our forts,
     burning our subjects' houses and enriching his people with the
     spoil of our goods and merchandises, detaining some of our
     subjects under the hardships of imprisonment, causing others to
     be inhumanly killed, and driving the rest to sea in a small
     vessel without food or necessaries to support them, are
     actions not even becoming an enemy; and yet he was so far from
     declaring himself so, that at that very time he was negotiating
     here in England, by his Ministers, a treaty of neutrality and
     good correspondence in America."

Much has been made by later writers, hostile to the Company, of a
circumstance which soon afterwards took place.

[Sidenote: The Company's charter confirmed.]

Owing to the state of public feeling in England towards the Stewarts
at the time of the Revolution, the Company, keenly alive to the fact
of the exiled king's having been so recently its Governor, sought at
the beginning of William's reign to strengthen its position by an Act
of Parliament for the charter granted by Charles II. Why, have asked
its enemies, if the Company had the utmost confidence in its charter
did it resort to the Lords and Commons to have it confirmed? And why
was this confirmation limited to but seven years? I have already
answered the first question; as to the second, the Company itself
asked for no longer period. The proceeding was no secret; it was done
openly. Parliament made but one stipulation, and that at the instance
of the Felt-makers' Company; that the adventurers "should be obliged
to make at least two sales of 'coat beaver' annually, and not
exceeding four. These should be proportioned in lotts of about £100
sterling each, and not exceeding £200. In the intervals of public
sales the Company should be debarred from selling beaver by private
Contract, or at any price than was sett up at the last Publick sale."

The Company asked for a confirmation of its charter by Parliament as a
prudent course in uncertain times; and also in order to more firmly
establish its claim to reparation for damages. The nation's
representatives saw no reason why they should not issue a
confirmation; there being none, save the Felt-makers, to oppose it.

[Sidenote: The Company increases its capital.]

The charter being confirmed, it was decided that the nominal capital
of the Company should be increased to £31,500, several good reasons
being put forward in committee for thus trebling the stock. These
reasons are quaintly enumerated as follows:

I--That the Company have actually in Warehouse above the value of
their first original stock.

II--That they have set out an Expedition this Yeare in their Shipps
and Cargoe to more than the Value of their First Stock again; the
trading of which Goods may well be estimated, in expectation as much
more.

III--That our Factories at Port Nelson River and New Severne are under
an increasing Trade; and that our Returns in Beavers this yeare (by
God's Blessing) are modestly expected to be worth 20,000_l._

IV--Our Forts, Factories, Guns and other Materials, the prospect of
new Settlements and further Trade, are also reasonably to be estimated
at a considerable intrinsic Value.

V--And lastly, our just Expectancy of a very considerable reparation
and satisfaction from the French and the close of this War and the
restoring our places and Trade at the Bottom of the Bay; which upon
proof, hath been made out above 100,000_l._

Some years later the Treaty of Ryswick, in securing to the French the
fruits of Iberville's victory, powerfully affected for ill the
fortunes of the Company. Nevertheless, the whole nation was then in
sympathy with its cause, knowing that but for the continued existence
of the Honourable Adventurers as a body corporate the chances of the
western portion of the Bay reverting to the English were small.

But the Felt-makers were implacable. They would like to have seen the
beaver trade in their own hands. At the expiration of the seven years
for which the confirmation was allowed, they again, as will be shown,
evinced, yet vainly, their enmity.

Because this parliamentary confirmation was limited to so short a
period, some writers have conjectured that at the expiration of that
period the charter ceased to be valid. So absurd a conclusion would
scarcely appear to stand in need of refutation. Could those who
pretend to draw this inference have been ignorant that if some of the
rights conferred by the charter required the sanction of Parliament,
there were other rights conferred by it which required no such
sanction, because they were within the prerogative of the Crown? Even
assuming that at the end of the term for which the act of William and
Mary was passed, such of the provisions of the charter (if there could
be found any such) as derived their efficacy only from parliamentary
support should be considered inefficient, still all the rights similar
to those of the charters for former governments and plantations in
America would continue to exist. That they were so regarded as
existing is made evident by the repeated references to them in various
subsequent international treaties and acts of Parliament. King George
and his advisers completely recognized the Company as proprietors of a
certain domain. In establishing the limits of the newly-acquired
Province of Canada, it was enacted that it should be bounded on the
north by "the territory granted to the Merchants-Adventurers of
England trading into Hudson's Bay," a boundary which by statute was
long to subsist.

Fort Albany did not prove a success in the hands of the French. The
Quebec Company were losing money, and they had no ships. They were,
besides, severely handicapped by physical conditions, owing to the
inaccessibility of the Bay by land and the impracticability of
carrying merchandise by the overland route. It seemed clear that,
after all, the trade of the Bay could only be made profitable by
sea.[23] The French were consequently most anxious to exchange the
forts on James' Bay for Fort Nelson, because they were aware that
better furs were to be had in the north; and because it would enable
them to intercept the tribes who hunted about Lake Nepigon.

[Sidenote: Denonville plans the capture of Fort Nelson.]

Denonville is now found writing long despatches to Seignely, assuring
him that their affairs at Hudson's Bay would prosper if the Northern
Company continued to co-operate with and second the designs of
Iberville, whose fixed resolve was to go and seize Fort Nelson. For
that purpose Denonville regarded it as necessary that the Minister
should inform M. de Lagny that the King desired the capture of that
fort, and to "furnish Iberville with everything he requires to render
his designs successful." The Governor himself thought one ship added
to those they had captured in 1689 from the English would suffice. He
sought to obtain for Iberville some honourable rank in the navy, as
this would, he urged, excite honourable emulation amongst the
Canadians who were ready to follow the sea. Denonville suggested a
lieutenancy, adding his opinion that his young friend was "a very fine
fellow, capable of rendering himself expert and doing good service."
The plea of the Governor was successful and Lewis was pleased to
confer upon Iberville the rank of lieutenant in the French Royal Navy,
the first distinction of the kind then on record. It fired the blood
and pride of not a few of the Canadian youth, one Peter Gauthier de
Varennes amongst the rest. Many years later he, under the name of
Verandrye, was the first of the great pioneers through the territories
of the Great Company.

All negotiations for an exchange of forts having fallen through, the
_Compagnie du Nord_ determined to make a valiant attempt to obtain
their desires by force. For this purpose they made powerful
application to the Court; and in the autumn of 1691 their petition
resulted in the arrival at Quebec of Admiral Tast with no fewer than
fourteen ships.

It was said in Quebec that while Lewis XIV. surprised his enemies by
his celerity in taking the field in Europe, the vessels sent out to
America by his order always started two or three months too late for
Canada and the Bay. This tardiness, it was declared, was the sole
cause of all the losses and want of success attending French
enterprises in that part of the New World.[24]

However this may be, there was beyond question another and not less
potent reason for the failure which overtook the proposed expedition
of Tast on behalf of the Northern Company. Iberville's successes had
up to this moment tended to bolster up the waning popularity of the
Company in Canada. This popular hero had just returned from the Bay
with 80,000 francs value in beaver skins, and 6,000 livres in small
furs, but he now refused point blank to have anything to do with the
expedition. He did not care to share such glory and profit as he might
obtain with his own followers, with the Company and Admiral Tast.

Without this powerful auxiliary and the support of the populace,
Tast's fleet abandoned its expedition to the Bay, and sailed away to
Acadia and Newfoundland.

[Sidenote: Burning of Fort Nelson.]

Nevertheless, while Governor Phipps was in charge of Fort Nelson this
year, a French frigate belonging to the enemy appeared at the entrance
of Bourbon River. As it chanced that nearly the whole of his garrison
were absent from the fort on a hunting expedition, it seemed to the
Governor that armed resistance would be futile. Rather, therefore,
than allow the fort to pass again into the hands of the French under
circumstances so humiliating, he resolved to burn it, together with a
large part of its merchandise, valued at about £8,000, well knowing
that without the merchandise the French could not procure furs from
the Indians.

Whilst the flames of the fort were ascending, Phipps and three men he
had with him retreated into ambush and established themselves with
some Indians in the interior.

The Frenchman landed, saw the perdition of his hopes in the ruin of
the fort and its contents, and returned to the ship with a few
hatchets and knives as the sole trophy of his enterprise.

On the arrival of the Company's ship in the spring however, York
Factory was re-built stronger and on a larger scale than before.

Iberville at this time finds great cause of complaint in the fact of
the French Company's poverty, and its inability to occupy the region
after it had been won for them. More than a single ship was required;
and a larger number of men in the vicinity of Fort Nelson would have
served to keep the English off perpetually.

In 1693 the Northern Company petitioned Pontchartrain, who had
succeeded Seignely at Court, respecting operations in the Bay. The
Company declared that it could hold everything if it were only enabled
to seize Fort Nelson; but that continued hostilities and losses had so
weakened it as to oblige it to have recourse to his Excellency to
obtain sufficient force in a suitable time to drive out the English.

In another petition it is alleged that this "single fort which remains
in the possession of the English is of so much importance that the
gain or loss of everything in Hudson's Bay depends upon it. The
Company's establishment in Quebec, to carry on this commerce, claims
anew the protection of your Excellency, that you may give it a
sufficient force to enable it to become master of Fort Nelson, which
the English took by an act of treason against this Company in time of
peace. This they hope from the strong desire which you have for the
aggrandizement of the kingdom, and from your affection for this
colony."

Iberville crossed over to France, and met with a warm reception at
Versailles. He unfolded his plans for the capture of Fort Nelson,
stated what force he would require for this desirable purpose, and was
promised two ships in the following spring.[25] Highly gratified with
his success, he departed for home in the _Envieux_.

[Sidenote: The English regain Fort Albany.]

The Hudson's Bay Company now made another effort to regain its fort at
Albany. Three powerfully armed ships wintered at Fort Nelson and
sailed thither in the spring of 1693.[26] From all accounts that had
been received, it was not believed that the rival French Company was
in a position to maintain a very strong force for an all-winter
defence, especially since the alienation of Iberville. Forty men were
landed, and approaching the post were met by a brisk fire, which
failed to check the English advance. Much to their own astonishment,
they were permitted to close upon the fort without check, and a ruse
was suspected. A cautious entrance was therefore made: the premises
were found apparently deserted. But at length, in a corner of the
cellar, emaciated and covered with rags, a human being a victim to
scurvy was discovered. His arms and legs were fastened together, and a
heavy chain kept him close to the wall. While they were marvelling at
this discovery, some of the sailors came to inform the captain that
three Frenchmen had been seen at a distance flying as fast as their
legs would carry them. Captain Grimington was not long left in doubt
as to the facts: these three Frenchmen had formed the garrison of the
fort St Anne. The unlucky wretch they now beheld was a bushranger who,
in a paroxysm of rage, had murdered the surgeon at the fort.
Horrified, on recovering his reason, at what he had done, and fearing
that the only witness of the deed, Father Dalmas, would betray him to
the rest, he slew the priest also. The latter, with his expiring
breath, disclosed his murderer, and the French, then ten in number,
had chained the criminal in the cellar, not themselves relishing the
task of his summary execution.

Iberville did not leave Quebec until the tenth[27] of August, and
arrived at Fort Nelson, September 24th. Almost immediately he
disembarked with all his people, also with cannons, mortars and a
large quantity of ammunition. Batteries were thrown up about five
hundred yards from the palisades, and upon these guns were
mounted.[28] A bombardment now took place, lasting from the 25th of
September to the 14th of October, when the governor was forced to
surrender, owing to the danger of a conflagration as well as to the
loss of several of his best men. On this occasion young Henry
Kelsey[29] showed great bravery, and a report of his gallantry being
forwarded to the Company, he was presented with the sum of forty
pounds as a token of their appreciation. This youth was destined to be
long in the service of the Company, as first in command at Fort
Nelson.

  [Illustration: LANDING OF IBERVILLE'S MEN AT PORT NELSON.
   (_From an old print._)]

[Sidenote: Iberville takes Fort Nelson.]

Iberville accomplished his entry on the fifteenth of October. The
French standard was hoisted and the fort christened Bourbon, and it
being St. Theresa's Day, the river was given the name of that saint.
The enemy did not come out of this business unscathed; they having
lost several of their men, including a brother of Iberville.

Some of the English were kept prisoners, while others made their way
as best they could to New Severn and Albany. At the time of the
surrender, the fort was well furnished with merchandise and
provisions, and this circumstance induced the French to remain for the
winter, before returning to France.

On the 20th of the following July, Iberville departed for the straits
in his two vessels, the _Poli_ and _Salamandre_. He left sixty-seven
men under the command of La Forest. Martigny became lieutenant, and
Jérémie was appointed ensign, with the additional functions of
interpreter and "director of commerce."

La Forest and his men were not long to enjoy security of trade and
occupation however. A meeting of the Hudson's Bay Company was held the
moment these outrages were reported. The King was besought to send a
fleet of four ships to the rescue and recapture of Fort Nelson. But it
was too late to sail that year. News of the proposed despatch of an
English fleet having reached France, Serigny was sent in June, 1696,
with two of the best craft procurable at Rochelle. Sailing three days
before the English, the two French ships arrived two hours too late.
It was instantly perceived that they were no match for the English,
and accordingly they discreetly withdrew. As the Company's vessels
occupied the mouth of the river, there was no safe landing place at
hand. Both ships set sail again for France; but one, the _Hardi_, was
destined never to reach her destination. She probably ran against ice
at the mouth of the straits and went to the bottom with all on board.

[Sidenote: Fort Nelson surrenders to the English fleet.]

The English commenced the attack on the fort August 29th. On the
following day it was decided to land, and the French, seeing the
strength of their force, had no alternative but surrender. Perchance
by way of retaliation for the affairs of Albany and New Severn, the
provisions of capitulation[30] were disregarded; all the French were
made prisoners and carried to England. Possession was taken of a vast
quantity of furs, and the English returned, well satisfied with their
exploit; but not ignorant of the difficulties which surrounded the
maintenance of such a conquest.

FOOTNOTES:

[23] It has been truly observed that the protracted and bloody contest
between the French and English for the possession of the Bay was the
result of a desire of the Governor to have access to those waters, and
the resolve of the latter to defeat this purpose. "The truth is," says
Mr. Lindsay, "the fur trade was only profitable when carried on by
water." At Quebec or Three Rivers forty beaver skins made a canoe
load. A single canoe load of northern furs was worth six of the
southern.

[24] Charlevoix.

[25] Although by this action the French Court directly participated in
and lent its support to the hostilities against the English, yet to
all intents and purposes the war was between two commercial
corporations.

The ruling spirits of the Northern Company were not unaware of the
importance and power of the enemy they had to deal with. In a pamphlet
published in France in 1692 there is amusing testimony to the
consideration in which the London Company was held by the French.

"It is composed," says this authority, "of opulent merchants and
noblemen of the first quality; and it is known that the King himself
is part proprietor, having succeeded to that emolument with the other
belongings to King James II. So great are its profits that each member
is worth at least £5,000 English sterling above what he was before he
embarked in the fur traffic. There can be no secrecy about its
intention, which is to subvert and subjugate the whole northern
Country to its sway."

[26] The expedition which thus wrested away from the French all the
forts at the bottom of the Bay was in charge of Captain Grimington, an
experienced naval officer, who had seen service in the late wars.

I have not been able to ascertain Grimington's fate, but in the
Company's minute-book, under date of 19th of May, 1714, I find the
following entry:--

"Mrs. Ann Grimington, widow of Captain Michael Grimington, deceased,
having delivered in her petition to the Company, the same was read,
and considering her poverty and the faithful services her husband
performed for the Company, the Committee agreed to allow the said Mrs.
Grimington twelve shillings per month for her subsistence, which the
secretary is ordered to pay her every first Monday in the month, to
commence the first Monday in June next. Interim, the secretary is
ordered to pay her twenty shillings as charity, which is afterwards to
be taken out of the poor-box." This is sufficiently strong evidence of
the state into which the Company had fallen.

[27] To illustrate the divergence of authorities in such matters, I
may mention that while Jérémie, who took part in this expedition,
calls the two ships the _Poli_ and _Charente_, in which he is followed
by Abbé Ferland. Father Marest, the aumonier of the crew, refers to
the second ship as the _Salamandre_. His relation is entitled "Le
Voyage du _Poli_ et _Salamandre_." In the letter of Frontenac to the
French minister (November 5, 1694) it is stated that Serigny commanded
the _Salamandre_. _La Potherie_ observes that the ships sent out in
1694 were the _Poli_ and _Salamandre_. Furthermore, he declares, they
sailed the 8th of August; Frontenac states the 9th, and Jérémie the
10th (_Jour de St. Laurent_). _La Potherie_ and Jérémie agree on the
date of their arrival, September 24th, although Ferland says it was
the 20th.

[28] Jérémie gives us a detailed description of the fort in his
"Relation." He says it was composed of four bastions, which formed a
square of thirty feet, with a large stone house above and below. In
one of these bastions was the storeroom for furs and merchandise,
another served for provisions; a third was used by the garrison. All
were built of wood. In a line with the first palisade there were two
other bastions, in one of which lodged the officers, the other serving
as a kitchen and forge. Between these two bastions was a
crescent-shaped earthworks sheltering eight cannon, firing eight-pound
balls, and defending the side of the fort towards the river. At the
foot of this earthworks was a platform, fortified by six pieces of
large cannon. There was no butt-range looking out upon the wood, which
was a weak point; all the cannon and swivel-guns were on the bastions.
In all, the armament consisted of thirty-two cannon and fourteen
swivel-guns outside the fort and fifty-three inside; on the whole,
calculated to make a stalwart defence.

[29] Kelsey was the earliest English explorer in the North-West.
Mention of his achievements will be found in the course of Chapter XV.

[30] Allen sent home to his superiors a copy of the capitulation
proposals of the French Commandant. This document is not without
interest. It is headed:--

          CAPITULATION OF FORT YORK, 1696.

     Articles of capitulation between William Allen,
     Commandant-in-Chief at Hays, or St. Therese River, and Sieur G.
     de la Forest, Commandant at Fort York or Bourbon, August 31,
     1696.

     I consent to give up to you my fort on the following
     conditions:--

     1. That I and all my men, French as well as Indians, and my
     English servant, shall have our lives and liberty granted to
     us, and that no wrong or violence shall be exercised upon us or
     whatever belongs to us.

     2. We shall march out of the fort without arms, to the beat of
     the drum, match lighted, ball in mouth, flags unfurled, and
     carry with us the two cannon which we brought from France.

     3. We shall be transported altogether, in our own vessel, to
     Plaisance, a French Port in New Newfoundland. We do not wish to
     give up the fort till we have embarked, and we shall keep the
     French flag over the fort till we march out.

     4. If we meet with our vessels there shall be a truce between
     us, and it shall be permitted to transport us with whatever
     belongs to us.

     5. We shall take with us all the beaver skins and other
     merchandise obtained in trade this year, which shall be
     embarked with us upon our vessels.

     6. All my men shall embark their clothes and whatever belongs
     to them without being subject to visitation, or robbed of
     anything.

     7. In case of sickness during the voyage, you shall furnish us
     with all the remedies and medicines which we may require.

     8. The two Frenchmen, who ought to return with the Indians,
     shall be received in the fort on their return, where they shall
     be treated the same as the English, and sent to Europe during
     the same year, or they shall be furnished with everything
     necessary to take them to Rochelle.

     We shall have the full exercise of our religion, and the Jesuit
     priest, our missionary, shall publicly perform the functions of
     his ministry.




CHAPTER XIV.

1696-1697.

     Imprisoned French Fur-Traders Reach Paris -- A Fleet under
     Iberville Despatched by Lewis to the Bay -- Company's four
     Ships precede them through the Straits -- Beginning of a Fierce
     Battle -- The _Hampshire_ Sinks -- Escape of the _Dering_ and
     capture of the _Hudson's Bay_ -- Dreadful Storm in the Bay --
     Losses of the Victors -- Landing of Iberville -- Operations
     against Fort Nelson -- Bailey Yields -- Evacuation by the
     English.


The French prisoners captured in the Company's expedition of 1696
suffered an incarceration of nearly four months at Portsmouth. No
sooner had their liberty been regained than they boarded a French brig
bound for Havre, and on arrival in Paris lost little time in making
known the condition of affairs at Hudson's Bay. Lewis and his
Ministers, gazing upon this emaciated band of traders and bushrangers,
could hardly refrain from taking immediate action to retrieve the
situation. Precisely following the tactics of their enemy in the
previous year, they engaged four men-of-war; which fleet was
despatched to join Iberville, then at the port of Placentia in
Newfoundland. The Court was well aware that there was no one man so
thoroughly equipped at all points in knowledge of the Bay, and the
conditions there of life and warfare, as this hero. Consequently,
although numerous enough, all other offers to lead the expedition were
rejected.

On the arrival of the French ships at Placentia, Iberville took
command, embarking in the _Pelican_, of fifty guns. The others were
the _Palmier_, the _Weesph_, the _Pelican_, and the _Violent_.[31]

But Fort Nelson was not to be captured without a struggle.

[Sidenote: Meeting of the French and English ships.]

At almost the very moment the French fleet sailed, there departed from
Plymouth four of the Company's ships, the _Hampshire_, the _Hudson's
Bay_, the _Dering_, and _Owner's Love_, a fire-ship, the two former
having been participants in the conquest of the previous year. The
Company's fleet entered the straits only forty hours before the ships
of the French; and like them was much impeded by the ice, which was
unusually troublesome. Passage was made by the enemy in the English
wake. The _Profound_, commanded by Duqué, pushed past the currents,
taking a northerly course, which brought her commander into full view
of two of the Company's ships. Shots were exchanged; but owing to the
difficulties engendered by the ice, it was impossible to manoeuvre
with such certainty as to cut off the Frenchman's escape. While this
skirmish was in progress, Iberville in the _Pelican_ succeeded in
getting past the English unknown to them, and reached the mouth of the
Nelson River in sight of the fort. His presence, as may be imagined,
greatly surprised and disturbed the Governor and the Company's
servants; for they had believed their own ships would have arrived in
season to prevent the enemy from entering the straits. Several rounds
of shot were fired as a signal, in the hope that a response would be
made by the Company's ships which they hourly expected in that
quarter.

On his part the French commander was equally disturbed by the
non-arrival of his three consorts, which the exigencies of the voyage
had obliged him to forsake. Two days were passed in a state of
suspense. At daybreak on the fifth of September three ships[32] were
distinctly visible; both parties joyfully believed they were their
own. So certain was Iberville, that he immediately raised anchor and
started to join the newcomers. He was soon undeceived, but the
perception of his mistake in no way daunted him.

The Company's commanders were not prepared either for the daring or
the fury of the Frenchman's onslaught. It is true the _Pelican_ was
much superior to any of their own craft singly, being manned by nearly
two hundred and fifty men, and boasting forty-four pieces of cannon.
The Company's ships lined up, the _Hampshire_ in front, the _Dering_
next, with the _Hudson's Bay_ bringing up the rear.

  [Illustration: "HAMPSHIRE." "HUDSON'S BAY." "DERING."]

[Sidenote: A fierce battle in the Bay.]

The combatants being in close proximity the battle began at half-past
nine in the morning. The French commander came straight for the
_Hampshire_, whose captain, believing it was his enemy's design to
board, instantly lowered his mainsheet and put up his fore-top-sail.
Contact having been by these means narrowly evaded, the scene of
battle suddenly shifted to the _Pelican_ and the _Dering_, whose
mainsail was smitten by a terrific volley. At the same time the
_Hudson's Bay_, veering, received a damaging broadside. The Company's
men could distinctly hear the orders shouted by Iberville to both
ships to discharge a musket fire into the _Dering's_ forecastle, but
in this move he was anticipated by the English sailors, who poured a
storm of bullets in upon the Frenchman, accompanied by a broadside of
grape, which wrought havoc with her sails. While the cries of the
wounded on the _Pelican_ could be distinctly heard, all three of the
Company's ships opened fire, with the design of disabling her rigging.
But the captain of the _Hudson's Bay_, seeing that he could not engage
the _Pelican_, owing to Iberville's tactics, determined to run in
front of her and give her the benefit of a constant hull fire,
besides taking the wind from her sails. Iberville observed the
movement; the two English vessels were near; he veered around, and by
a superb piece of seamanship came so near to the _Hampshire_ that the
crew of the latter saw that boarding was intended. Every man flew out
on the main deck, with his pistol and cutlass, and a terrific
broadside of grape on the part of the Englishman alone saved him.

  [Illustration: THE EVACUATION OF FORT NELSON.
   (_See page 166._)]

The battle raged hotter and fiercer. The _Hampshire's_ salvation had
been only temporary; at the end of three hours and a half she began to
sink, with all sails set. When this occurred, Iberville had ninety men
wounded, forty being struck by a single broadside. Notwithstanding
this, he decided at once to push matters with the _Hampshire's_
companions, although the _Pelican_ was in a badly damaged state,
especially the forecastle, which was a mass of splinters.

The enemy made at once for the _Dering_, which, besides being the
smallest ship, had suffered severely. She crowded on all sail and
managed to avoid an encounter, and Iberville being in no condition to
prosecute the chase, returned to the _Hudson's Bay_, which soon
surrendered. Iberville was not destined, however, to reap much
advantage from his prize, the _Hampshire_. The English flag-ship was
unable to render any assistance to her and she soon went down with
nearly all on board.[33]

To render the situation more distressing, no sooner had some ninety
prisoners been made, than a storm arose; so that it became out of the
question to approach the shore with design of landing. They were
without a long-boat and each attempt to launch canoes in the boiling
surf was attended with failure.

[Sidenote: A great storm.]

Night fell; the wind instead of calming, grew fiercer. The sea became
truly terrible, seeking, seemingly, with all its power to drive the
_Pelican_ and the _Hudson's Bay_ upon the coast. The rudders of each
ship broke; the tide rose and there seemed no hope for the crews whose
destiny was so cruel. Their only hope in the midst of the bitter blast
and clouds of snow which environed them, lay in the strength of their
cables. Soon after nine o'clock the _Hudson's Bay_ and its anchor
parted with a shock.

"Instantly," says one of the survivors, "a piercing cry went up from
our forecastle. The wounded and dead lay heaped up, with so little
separation one from the other that silence and moans alone
distinguished them. All were icy cold, and covered with blood. They
had told us the anchor would hold; and we dreaded being washed up on
the shore stiff the next morning."

A huge wave broke over the main deck and the ship rocked desperately.
Two hours later the keel was heard to split, and the ship was hurled
rudderless to and fro in the trough of the sea.

By the French account, matters were in no more enviable state aboard
the _Pelican_; Iberville, however, amidst scenes rivalling those just
described, did his best to animate his officers and men with a spirit
equalling his own.

"It is better," he cried, "to die, if we must, outside the bastions of
Fort Bourbon than to perish here like pent sheep on board."

[Sidenote: Terrible plight of the shipwrecked French.]

When morning broke, it was seen by the French that their ship was not
yet submerged, and it was resolved to disembark by such means as lay
in their power. The Company's servants were more fortunate. The
_Hudson's Bay_ had drifted eight miles to the south of the fort, and
was wrecked on a bank of icy marshland, which at least constrained
them to wade no deeper than their knees. The French, however, were
forced to make their way through the icy water submerged to their
necks, from the results of which terrible exposure no fewer than
eighteen marines and seamen lost their lives. Once on shore they
could not, like the English, look forward to a place of refuge and
appease their hunger with provisions and drink. They were obliged, in
their shivering, half frozen state, to subsist upon moss and seaweed,
but for which indifferent nourishment they must inevitably have
perished.

The Company's garrison witnessed the calamities which were overtaking
the French, but not knowing how great their number, and assured of
their hostility, did not attempt any acts of mercy. They perceived the
enemy camped in a wood, less than two leagues distant, where, building
several large fires they sought to restore their spirits by means of
warmth and hot draughts of boiled herbs.

  [Illustration: "The enemy camped in a wood where, building several
   large fires, they sought to restore their spirits."]

While the fort was being continually recruited by survivors of the two
wrecked ships, the other three French vessels had arrived on the
scene. The fourth, the _Violent_, lay at the bottom of the Bay, having
been sunk by the ice. The _Palmier_ had suffered the loss of her helm,
but was fortunate in not being also a victim of the storm. The French
forces being now united, little time was lost by Iberville in making
active preparations for the attack upon the fort.

On the 11th, the enemy attained a small wood, almost under the guns of
the fort, and having entrenched themselves, lit numerous fires and
made considerable noise in order to lend the impression to the English
that an entrenchment was being thrown up. This ruse was successful,
for the Governor gave orders to fire in that direction; and Iberville,
seizing this opportunity, effected a landing of all his men and
armaments from the ships.

[Sidenote: Iberville demands surrender of the fort.]

The fort would now soon be hemmed in on all sides, and it were indeed
strange if a chance shot or fire-brand did not ignite the timbers, and
the powder magazine were not exploded. Governor Bailey was holding a
council of his advisers when one of the French prisoners in the fort
gave notice of the approach of a messenger bearing a flag of truce. He
was recognized as Martigny. The Governor permitted his advance, and
sent a factor to meet him and insist upon his eyes being bandaged
before he would be permitted to enter. Martigny was conducted to where
the council was sitting and there delivered Iberville's message,
demanding surrender. He was instantly interrupted by Captain
Smithsend, who, with a great show of passion, asked the emissary if it
were not true that Iberville had been killed in the action. In spite
of Martigny's denials, Smithsend loudly persisted in believing in
Iberville's death; and held that the French were in sore straits and
only made the present attack because no other alternative was offered
to desperate men to obtain food and shelter. Bailey allowed himself to
be influenced by Smithsend, and declined to yield to any of Martigny's
demands. The latter returned, and the French instantly set up a
battery near the fort and continued, amidst a hail of bullets, the
work of landing their damaged stores and armaments. Stragglers from
the wreck of the _Hudson's Bay_ continued all day to find their way to
the fort, but several reached it only to be shot down in mistake by
the cannon and muskets of their own men. On the 12th, after a hot
skirmish, fatal to both sides, the Governor was again requested, this
time by Sérigny, to yield up the fort to superior numbers.

"If you refuse we will set fire to the place, and accord you no
quarter," was the French ultimatum.

"Set fire and be d----d to you!" responded Bailey.

He then set to work, with Smithsend, whose treatment at the hands of
the French in the affair of the _Merchant of Perpetuana_ was still
vividly before him, to animate the garrison.

"Go for them, you dogs!" cried Bailey, "Give it to them hot and heavy;
I promise you forty pounds apiece for your widows!"

Fighting in those days was attended by fearful mortality, and the
paucity of pensions to the hero's family, perhaps, made the offer seem
handsome. At any rate it seemed a sufficient incentive to the
Company's men, who fought like demons.[34]

A continual fire of guns and mortars, as well as of muskets, was kept
up. The Canadians sallied out upon a number of skirmishes, filling the
air with a frightful din, borrowing from the Iroquois their piercing
war-cries. In one of these sallies St. Martin, one of their bravest
men, perished.

Under protection of a flag of truce, Sérigny came again to demand a
surrender. It was the last time, he said, the request would be
preferred. A general assault had been resolved upon by the enemy, who
were at their last resort, living like beasts in the wood, feeding on
moss, and to whom no extremity could be odious were it but an exchange
for their present condition. They were resolved upon carrying the
fort, even at the point of the bayonet and over heaps of their slain.


Bailey decided to yield. He sent Morrison to carry the terms of
capitulation, in which he demanded all the peltries in the fort
belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. This demand being rejected by
the enemy, Bailey later in the evening sent Henry Kelsey with a
proposition to retain a portion of their armament; this also was
refused. There was now nothing for it but to surrender, Iberville
having granted an evacuation with bag and baggage.

[Sidenote: Evacuation of the English.]

At one o'clock on the following day, therefore, the evacuation took
place. Bailey, at the head of his garrison and a number of the crew of
the wrecked _Hudson's Bay_, and six survivors of the _Hampshire_,
marched forth from Fort York with drums beating, flag flying, and with
arms and baggage. They hardly knew whither they were to go; or what
fate awaited them. A vast and inhospitable region surrounded them, and
a winter long to be remembered for its severity had begun. But to the
French it seemed as if their spirits were undaunted, and they set
forth bravely.

The enemy watched the retreat of the defeated garrison not without
admiration, and for the moment speculation was rife as to their fate.
But it was only for the moment. Too rejoiced to contemplate anything
but the termination of their own sufferings, the Canadians hastened to
enter the fort, headed by Boisbriant, late an ensign in the service of
the Compagnie du Nord. Fort Nelson was once more in the hands of the
French.[35]

  [Illustration: CAPTURE OF FORT NELSON BY THE FRENCH.
   (_From a Contemporary Print appearing in M. de la Potherie's
   "Relation."_)]

The Company, too, was debarred from any attempt at reconquest,
because of the Treaty[36] just concluded at Ryswick, which yielded the
territory which had been the scene of so much commerce, action and
bloodshed to the subjects of the Most Christian King.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] A young Irishman, Edmund Fitz-Maurice, of Kerry, who had embraced
the Church, and had served with James's army at the Battle of the
Boyne, accompanied the expedition in the character of chaplain. He is
alluded to by the French chronicler of the affair as "Fiche-Maurice de
Kieri de la Maison du Milord Kieri en Irlande."

[32] The fourth, the fire-ship _Owner's Love_, was never more heard
of. It is supposed that, separated from the others, she ran into the
ice and was sunk, with all on board.

[33] Thus was concluded what was, in the opinion of the best
authorities, French and English, one of the fiercest and bloodiest
battles of the war.

"Toute la Marine de Rochefort croient que ce combat a ete un des plus
rudes de cette Guerre," says La Potherie.

[34] "Ils avoient de tres habile cannoniers," Jérémie, an eye-witness,
was forced to confess.

[35] "Ainsi le dernier poste," Garneau exclaims, "que les English
avaient dans le baie d'Hudson tombé en notre pouvoir, et la France
resta seule maitresse de cette region." (Tome II., p. 137.)

But Garneau overlooked the three forts in James' Bay retaken by the
English in 1693; one of which, Fort Anne or Chechouan, he mistook for
Fort Nelson. At any rate Fort Albany or Chechouan remained in
possession of the Company from 1693; and they never lost it.

It was unsuccessfully attacked by Menthel in 1709.

[36] So strongly has the Treaty of Ryswick been interpreted in favour
of France, that some historians merely state the fact that by it she
retained all Hudson's Bay, and the places of which she was in
possession at the beginning of the war. The commissioners having never
met to try the question of right, things remained _in statu quo_. Now,
whatever the commissioners might have done, had they ever passed
judgment on the cause the Treaty provided they should try, they could
not have given Fort Albany to the British, for it was one of the
places taken by the French during the preceding peace, and retaken by
the British during the war, and, therefore, adjudged in direct terms
of the Treaty itself to belong to France. Thus, then, it will be seen,
declared the opponents of the Company, that the only possession held
by the Hudson's Bay Company during the sixteen years that intervened
between the Treaty of Ryswick and the Treaty of Utrecht was one to
which they had no right, and which the obligations of the Treaty
required should be given up to France.--_Report of Ontario Boundary
Commission._




CHAPTER XV.

1698-1713.

     Petition Presented to Parliament Hostile to Company --
     Seventeenth Century Conditions of Trade -- _Coureurs de Bois_
     -- Price of Peltries -- Standard of Trade Prescribed --
     Company's Conservatism -- Letters to Factors -- Character of
     the Early Governors -- Henry Kelsey -- York Factory under the
     French -- Massacre of Jérémie's Men -- Starvation amongst the
     Indians.


Before the news of the catastrophe could reach England, in April,
1698, there was presented to Parliament a petition appealing against
the confirmation of the privileges and trade granted to the Company in
1690.

The principal reason alleged for this action was the exorbitant price
of beaver which it was contended turned away an immense amount of
Indian trade, which reverted to the French in Canada.

Another reason given was the undesirable monopoly which caused English
dealers, while paying the highest prices for beaver, to get the worst
article; the best travelling to Russia and other continental
countries. In this petition, concocted by enemies of the Company
envious of its success, it was insinuated that the Company's trade had
been of no use save to increase the practice of stock-jobbing.

[Sidenote: The Company replies to its enemies.]

To this the Company made reply that "it was well known that the price
of beaver had decreased one-third since its own establishment; and
that themselves, far from hindering the trade, encouraged it by every
means in their power, being anxious to be relieved of an over-stocked
commodity." Herein they referred to the enormous quantity of furs
stored in their warehouse, for which, during the stringency of
continued trade they were obliged to retain and pay repeated taxes
upon.[37] As for sending goods to Russia it was only of late years
that the Company had extended its trade to that and other foreign
countries and for no other cause than that reasonable prices could not
be obtained in England.

Although two London guilds, the Skinner's Company and the Felt-makers'
Company, joined issue with the Honourable Adventurers, the fate of the
petition was sealed. On account of the misfortunes which had overtaken
the Company, together with the presence of other and weightier
matters, for Parliamentary consideration, the petition was laid on the
table, and from the table it passed to the archives, where, together
with the Act of 1690, it lay forgotten for a century and a half.

It will be diverting, at this juncture in the general narrative, to
glance at seventeenth century conditions of life and commerce in the
domain of the Company.

[Sidenote: Method of trade with the Indians.]

Even at so early a period as 1690 was the method of transacting trade
with the Indians devised and regulated. The tribes brought down their
goods, beaver skins, martens, foxes and feathers, to the Factory and
delivered them through a small aperture in the side of the storehouse.
They entered the stockade three or four at a time; trading one by one
at the window over which presided the traders. The whole of the actual
trading of the Factory was in the hands of two officials known as
traders. None other of the Company's servants at any fort were
permitted to have direct intercourse with the Indians, save in
exceptional circumstances. The trade was chiefly carried on in summer
when the rivers were free from ice, although occasionally the natives
in the immediate region of the factories came down in winter; the
factors never refusing to trade with them when they so came. No
partiality was shown to particular tribes, but the actual hunters were
favoured more than those who merely acted as agents or carriers. It
was not unusual for the chief factors, as the Governors came to be
called after 1713, to make presents to the chiefs in order to
encourage them to bring down as many of their tribe the ensuing year
as possible.

  [Illustration: TRADING WITH THE INDIANS.]

Before the era of the standard of trade, it was customary at all the
forts, as it was at one or two long afterwards, for remuneration for
the furs of the savages to be left at the chief factor's discretion.
Many things conspired to alter the values from season to season, and
even from day to day, but no cause was so potent as the contiguous
rivalry of the French. When the French were close at hand in the
vicinity of Fort Nelson, as they were from 1686 to 1693, the price of
beaver would fluctuate with surprising rapidity. It should be borne in
mind that the western country at this period, and for long afterwards,
was frequented by roving, adventurous parties of _coureurs des bois_,
whose activity in trade tended to injure the Company's business. Even
an enactment prescribing death for all persons trading in the interior
of the country without a license, had proved insufficient to abate
their numbers or their activity.

[Sidenote: Activity of "coureurs des bois."]

The Hudson's Bay Company seem to have some cognizance of this state of
affairs, and were wont to put down much of the depredations it
suffered at the hands of the French to the unkempt multitude of
bushrangers. In one document it describes them as "vagrants," and La
Chesnaye, who had been the leading spirit of the Quebec Company, was
ready to impute to them much of the woes of the fur-trade, as well as
the greater part of the unpleasant rivalries which had overtaken the
French and their neighbours. One day it would be carried like
wild-fire amongst the tribe who had come to barter, that the French
were giving a pound of powder for a beaver; that a gun could be bought
from the English for twelve beaver. In an instant there was a stampede
outside the respective premises, and a rush would be made for the
rival establishment. Fifty miles for a single pound of powder was
nothing to these Indians, who had often journeyed two whole months in
the depth of winter, endured every species of toil and hardship in
order to bring down a small bundle of peltries; nor when he presented
himself at the trader's window was the Indian by any means sure what
his goods would bring. He delivered his bundles first, and the trader
appraised them and gave what he saw fit. If a series of wild cries and
bodily contortions ensued, the trader was made aware that the Indian
was dissatisfied with his bargain, and the furs were again passed back
through the aperture. This was merely a form; for rarely did the
native make a practical repentance of his bargain, however
unsatisfactory it might appear to him. It is true the Indian was
constant in his complaint that too little was given for his furs; but
no matter what the price had been this would have been the case. Apart
from dissatisfaction being an ineradicable trait in the Indian
character, the contemplation of the sufferings and privations he had
undergone to acquire his string of beads, his blanket, or his hatchet,
must have aroused in him all his fund of pessimism.

In 1676 the value of the merchandise exported did not exceed £650
sterling. The value of the furs imported was close upon £19,000.

  [Illustration: A "COUREUR DES BOIS."]

[Sidenote: Prices paid for furs.]

In 1678 the first standard was approved of by the Company on the
advice of one of its governors, Sargeant, but it does not appear to
have been acted upon for some years. The actual tariff was not fixed
and settled to apply to any but Albany fort, and a standard was not
filed at the Council of Trade until 1695. It originally covered
forty-seven articles, later increased to sixty-three, and so remained
for more than half a century. At first, as has been noted in an
earlier chapter, the aborigines were content with beads and toys, and
no doubt the bulk of the supplies furnished them might have continued
for a much longer period to consist of these baubles and petty
luxuries had not the policy of the Company been to enrich the Indians
(and themselves) with the arms and implements of the chase. Gradually
the wants of the savages became wider, so that by the time, early in
the eighteenth century, the French had penetrated into the far western
country, these wants comprised many of the articles in common use
amongst civilized people. The standard of trade alluded to was
intended to cover the relative values at each of the Company's four
factories. Yet the discrepancy existing between prices at the
respective establishments was small. In 1718 a blanket, for example,
would fetch six beavers at Albany and Moose, and seven at York and
Churchill. In nearly every case higher prices were to be got from the
tribes dealing at York and Churchill than from those at the other and
more easterly settlements, often amounting to as much as thirty-three
per cent. This was illustrated in the case of shirts, for which three
beavers were given in the West Main, and only a single beaver at East
Main. The Company took fifteen beavers for a gun; whereas, when
Verandrye appeared, he was willing to accept as small a number as
eight. Ten beavers for a gun was the usual price demanded by the
French. It may be observed that a distinguishing feature of the French
trade in competition with the Company was that they dealt almost
exclusively in light furs, taking all of that variety they could
procure, the Indians bringing to the Company's settlements all the
heavier furs, which the French refused at any price, owing to the
difficulty of land transportation. These difficulties, in the case of
the larger furs, were so great that it is related that upon
innumerable occasions the savages themselves, when weakened by hunger,
used to throw overboard all but mink, marten and ermine skins rather
than undergo the painful labour of incessant portages.

It must not be inferred, however, that the factors ever adhered
strictly in practice to the standard prescribed and regulated from
time to time by the Company. The standard was often privately doubled,
where it could be done prudently, so that where the Company directed
one skin to be taken for such or such an article, two were taken. The
additional profit went into the hands of the chief factor, and a
smaller share to the two traders, without the cognizance of the
Company, and was called the overplus trade.

[Sidenote: Stationary character of the Company's trade.]

Occasionally, far seeing, active spirits amongst its servants strove
to break through the policy of conservatism which distinguished its
members; but where they succeeded it was only for a short period; and
the commerce of the corporation soon reverted to its ancient
boundaries. But this apparent attitude is capable of explanation. The
Company were cognizant, almost from the first, that the trade they
pursued was capable of great extension. One finds in the minute-books,
during more than forty years from the time of Radisson and
Groseilliers, partner after partner arising in his place to enquire
why the commerce, vastly profitable though it was, remained stationary
instead of increasing.

"Why are new tribes not brought down? Why do not our factors seek new
sources of commerce?" A motion directing the chief factor to pursue a
more active policy was often put and carried. But still the trade
returns, year after year, remained as before. Scarce a season passed
without exhortations to its servants to increase the trade. "Use more
diligence," "prosecute discoveries," "draw down distant tribes," form
the burden of many letters.

"We perceive," writes the Company's secretary in 1685 to Sargeant,
"that our servants are unwilling to travel up into the country by
reason of danger and want of encouragement. The danger, we judge, is
not more now than formerly; and for their encouragement we shall
plentifully reward them, when we find they deserve it by bringing down
Indians to our factories, of which you may assure them. We judge
Robert Sandford a fit person to travel, having the linguæ and
understanding the trade of the country; and upon a promise of Mr.
Young (one of our Adventurers) that he should travel, for which
reason we have advanced his wages to £30 per annum, and Mr. Arrington,
called in the Bay, Red-Cap, whom we have again entertained in our
service; as also John Vincent, both which we do also judge fit persons
for you to send up into the country to bring down trade." To this the
Governor replied that Sandford was by no means disposed to accept the
terms their Honours proposed, but rather chose to go home. "Neither he
nor any of your servants will travel up the country, although your
Honours have earnestly desired it, and I pressed it upon those
proposals you have hinted."

[Sidenote: Character of the Company's Factors.]

I have already shown why the Company's wishes in this respect were not
fruitful; that the character of the men in the Company's employ was
not yet adapted to the work in hand. Its servants were not easily
induced to imperil their lives; they gained little in valour or
hardihood from their surroundings. They were shut up in the forts, as
sailors are shut up in a ship, scarcely ever venturing out in winter,
and hardly ever holding converse with a savage in his wild state. In
vain, for the most part, were such men stirred to enterprise; and so
this choice and habit of seclusion grew into a rule with the Company's
employees; and the discipline common to the ship, or to contracted
bodies, became more and more stringent. The Company's policy was
nearly always dictated by the advice of their factors, but it can be
shown that these were not always wise, dreading equally the prospect
of leading an expedition into the interior, and the prestige which
might ensue if it were entrusted to a subordinate.

A discipline ludicrous when contrasted with the popular impression
regarding the fur-trader's career, was maintained in the early days.
It was the discipline of the quarter-deck, and surprised many of the
youth who had entered the Company's employ expecting a life of
pleasure and indulgence. Many of the governors were resembled, Bridgar
and Bailey being surly, violent men, and were, indeed, often chosen
for these qualities by the Company at home.

It is singular but true, that in the days of our ancestors a choleric
temper was considered an unfailing index of the masterful man. In
both branches of the King's service, on sea and on land, there seemed
to have been no surer sign of a man's ability to govern and lead, than
spleen and tyranny; and many an officer owed his promotion and won the
regard of the Admiralty and the War Office by his perpetual exhibition
of the traits and vices of the martinet. One of the Company's
governors, Duffell, was wont to order ten lashes to his men on the
smallest provocation. Another named Stanton, the governor at Moose
Factory, declared he would whip any man, even to the traders, without
trial if he chose; and this declaration he more than once put into
practice. The whipping of two men, Edward Bate and Adam Farquhar, at
Moose Factory, almost occasioned a mutiny there. The death of one
Robert Pilgrim, from a blow administered by the chief factor, created
a scandal some years later in the century. It was the practice of the
early governors to strike the Indians when they lost their own tempers
or for petty offences.

[Sidenote: Life at the Company's factories.]

It is diverting to compare nineteenth century life at the factories,
on its religious, moral and intellectual side, to what obtained in the
early days. In Governor Stanton's time, out of thirty-six men only six
were able to read. There was neither clergyman nor divine worship. The
men passed their time in eating and sleeping. Occasionally, Indian
squaws were smuggled into the fort, at the peril of the governor's
displeasure, for immoral purposes. The displeasure of the governor was
not, however, excited on the grounds of morality, for it was nearly
always the case that the governor had a concubine residing on the
premises or near at hand; and it was observed in 1749 by a servant of
thirty years' standing in the Company's employ, that at each fort most
of the half-breed children in the country claimed paternity of the one
or other of the factors of the Company.

  [Illustration: AN EARLY RIVER PIONEER.]

To return to the question of the extension of trade, there were from
time to time governors and servants who evinced a zeal and love for
adventure which contrasted favourably with that of their fellows.
Their exploits, however, when compared with those of the hardier race
of French-Canadian bushrangers were tame enough. In 1673 Governor
Bailey summoned all the servants of the fort to appear before him, and
informed them that it was the Company's wish that some amongst them
should volunteer to find out a site for a new fort. Three young men
presented themselves, two of whom afterwards became governors of the
Company. The names of these three were William Bond, Thomas Moore and
George Geyer. Some years later Bond was drowned in the Bay; but his
two companions continued for some years to set an example which was
never followed; and of which they seem finally to have repented.
Indeed, almost without exception, once a fort was built the servants
seem to have clung closely to it; and it was not until the year 1688
that a really brave, adventurous figure, bearing considerable
resemblance to the bushrangers of the past, and the explorers of the
future, emerges into light.

[Sidenote: Kelsey's Voyage.]

Henry Kelsey, a lad barely eighteen years of age, was the forerunner
of all the hardy British pioneers of the ensuing century. He is
described as active, "delighting much in Indians' company; being never
better pleased than when he is travelling amongst them." Young as he
was, Kelsey volunteered to find out a site for a fort on Churchill
River. No record exists of this voyage; but a couple of years later he
repeated it, and himself kept a detailed diary of his tour.

In this journal the explorer states that he received his supplies on
the 5th of July, 1691. He sent the Assiniboines ten days before him,
and set out for Dering's Point to seek the remainder of their tribe.
At this place it was the custom for the Indians to assemble when they
went down the coast on trading expeditions. Kelsey soon overtook them,
and accompanied them to the country of the Naywatamee Poets, the
journey consuming fifty-nine days. He travelled first by water
seventy-one miles from Dering's Point, and there beached his canoes
and continued by land a distance of three hundred and sixteen miles,
passing through a wooded country. At the end of this came prairie
lands for forty-six miles, intersected by a small shallow river
scarcely a hundred yards wide. Crossing ponds, woods and champaign for
eighty-one miles more, discovering many buffalo and beavers, the young
explorer retraced his steps fifty-four miles, and there met the tribe
of which he was in search. Kelsey did not accomplish this journey
without meeting with many adventures. On one occasion the Naywatamee
Poets left him asleep on the ground. During his slumber the fire burnt
the moss upon which he was lying and entirely consumed the stock of
his gun, for which he was obliged to improvise from a piece of wood
half dry. On another occasion, he and an Indian were surprised by a
couple of grisly bears. His companion made his escape to a tree, while
Kelsey, his retreat cut off, hid himself in a clump of high willows.
The bears perceiving the Indian in the branches made directly for
him, but Kelsey observing their action levelled his gun and killed one
of the animals, the other bear bounding towards the place from which
the shots came, and not finding the explorer, returned to the tree,
when he was brought down by Kelsey's second shot. Good fortune
attended this exploit, for it attained for the young man the name
among the tribes of Miss-top-ashish, or "Little Giant." He returned to
York Factory after this first expedition, apparelled after the manner
of his Indian companions, while at his side trudged a young woman with
whom he had gone through the ceremony of marriage after the Indian
fashion. It was his wish that Mistress Kelsey should enter with her
husband into the court, but this desire quickly found an opponent in
the Governor, whose scruples, however, were soon undermined when the
explorer flatly declined to resume his place and duties in the
establishment unless his Indian wife were admitted with him.

Thus, then, it is seen that in 1691, forty years before Verandrye's
voyages of discovery, this young servant of the Hudson's Bay Company,
had penetrated to no slight extent into the interior. He had crossed
the Assiniboine country, seen for the first time among the English and
French the buffaloes of the plain, he had been attacked by the grisly
bears which belong to the far west; and in behalf of the Hudson's Bay
Company had taken possession of the lands he traversed, and secured
for his masters the trade of the Indians hitherto considered hostile.

Although the Governor hoped that the encouragement noted in the case
of Kelsey, together with the advance of salary, would stimulate other
young men to follow his example, yet, strange to say, none came
forward. The day of the Henrys, the Mackenzies, the Thompsons and the
Frobishers had not yet dawned.

For many years after this the Company was in constant apprehension
that its profits would be curtailed by tribal wars.

[Sidenote: Effect of Indian wars on the Company's business.]

"Keep the Indians from warring with one another, that they may have
more time to look after their trade," was a frequently repeated
injunction. "If you prevent them from fighting they will bring a
larger quantity of furs to the Factory," they wrote on one occasion to
Geyer. The Governor admitted the premise, "but," said he, "perhaps
your Honours will tell me how I am going to do it." The Company
devoted a whole meeting to consider the matter, and decided that
nothing was easier, provided their instructions were implicitly
obeyed.

  [Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF COMPANY'S STANDARD OF TRADE.]

"Tell them what advantages they may make," they wrote; "that the more
furs they bring, the more goods they will be able to purchase of us,
which will enable them to live more comfortably and keep them from
want in a time of scarcity. Inculcate better morals than they yet
understand; tell them that it doth nothing advantage them to kill and
destroy one another, that thereby they may so weaken themselves that
the wild ravenous beasts may grow too numerous for them, and destroy
them that survive." If Geyer delivered this message to the stern and
valorous chiefs with whom he came in contact, they must have made the
dome of heaven ring with scornful laughter. He was obliged to write
home that fewer savages had come down than in former seasons because
they expected to be attacked by their enemies. The Company then
responded shortly and in a business-like manner, that if fair means
would not prevail to stop these inter-tribal conflicts, that the
nation beginning the next quarrel was not to be supplied for a year
with powder or shot "which will expose them to their enemies, who will
have the master of them and quite destroy them from the earth, them
and their wives and children. This," adds the secretary, and in a
spirit of true prophecy, "must work some terror amongst them."

[Sidenote: The French at Michilimackinac.]

A potent cause contributed to the lack of prosperity which marked Port
Nelson under the French _régime_. It was the exploitation of the west
by an army of traders and bushrangers. The new post of Michilimackinac
had assumed all the importance as a fur-trading centre which had
formerly belonged to Montreal. The French, too, were served by capable
and zealous servants, none more so than Iberville himself, the new
Governor of the Mississippi country.[38] His whole ambition continued
to be centred upon driving out the English from the whole western and
northern region, and destroying forever their trade and standing with
the aborigines, and none more than he more ardently desired the
suppression of the _coureur de bois_. "No Frenchmen," he declared,
"should be allowed to follow the Indians in their hunts, as it tends
to keep them hunters, as is seen in Canada; and when they are in the
woods they do not desire to become tillers of the soil."

At the same time the value of the bushrangers to the French _régime_
was considerable in damaging the English on the Bay.

"It is certain," observed one of their defenders, "that if the
articles required for the upper tribes be not sent to Michilimackinac,
the Indians will go in search of them to Hudson's Bay, to whom they
will convey all their peltries, and will detach themselves entirely
from us."

The bushrangers penetrated into the wilderness and intercepted the
tribes, whose loyalty to the English was not proof against liquor and
trinkets served on the spot, for which otherwise they would have to
proceed many weary leagues to the Bay.

The Company began to experience some alarm at the fashion the trade
was sapped from their forts at Albany and Moose.[39] The Quebec
Company was in the same plight with regard to Port Nelson.

[Sidenote: The Western Company.]

An association of French merchants, known as the Western Company,
sprang up in the early days of the eighteenth century and many forts
and factories were built in the Mississippi region. Its promoters
expected great results from a new skin until now turned to little
account, that of bison, great herds of which animal had been
discovered roaming the western plains. M. de Juchereau, with
thirty-four Canadians, established a post on the Wabash, in the name
of the Western Company. Here, he writes, he collected in a short time
fifteen thousand buffalo skins.

From 1697 to 1708 a series of three commandants were appointed, one of
whom now administered the affairs at Fort Bourbon, which however never
assumed the importance which had attached to it under the English
rule.

There is one romantic episode which belongs to this period, serving to
relieve by its vivid, perhaps too vivid, colouring, the long
sombreness of the French _régime_. It was the visit in 1704 of an
officer named Lagrange and his suite from France. In the train of this
banished courtier came a number of gallant youths and fair courtesans;
and for one brief season Fort Bourbon rang with laughter and revelry.
Hunting parties were undertaken every fine day; and many trophies of
the chase were carried back to France. Have ever the generations of
quiet English servants and Scotch clerks snatched a glimpse, in their
sleeping or waking dreams, of those mad revels, a voluptuous scene
amidst an environment so sullen and sombre?

In the year 1707 Jérémie, the lieutenant, obtained permission of the
Company to return to France on leave. He succeeded in obtaining at
court his nomination to the post of successor to the then commandant,
Delisle. After a year's absence he returned to Port Nelson, to find
matters in a shocking state. No ships had arrived from France, and
stores and ammunition were lacking. A few days after his arrival,
Delisle was taken seriously ill, and expired from the effects of cold
and exposure.

For a period of six years Jérémie continued to govern Fort Bourbon,
receiving his commission not from the Company but direct from the King
himself, a fact of which he seems very proud.

Jérémie's tenure of office was marked by a bloody affair, which
fortunately had but few parallels under either English or French
occupation. Although the tribes in the neighbourhood were friendly and
docile, they were still capable, upon provocation, to rival those
Iroquois who were a constant source of terror to the New England
settlers.

In August, 1708, Jérémie sent his lieutenant, two traders and six
picked men of his garrison to hunt for provisions. They camped at
nightfall near a band of savages who had long fasted and lacked
powder, which, owing to its scarcity, the French did not dare give
them.

[Sidenote: Indian Treachery.]

Round about these unhappy savages, loudly lamenting the passing of the
English dominion when powder and shot was plenty, were the heaps of
furs which to them were useless. They had journeyed to the fort in all
good faith, across mountain and torrent, as was their custom, only to
find their goods rejected by the white men of the fort, who told them
to wait. When the French hunting party came to encamp near them,
several of the younger braves amongst the Indians crept up to where
they feasted, and returned with the news to their comrades. The tribe
was fired with resentment. Exasperated by the cruelty of their fate,
they hatched a plan of revenge and rapine. Two of their youngest and
comeliest women entered the assemblage of the white men, and by
seductive wiles drew two of them away to their own lodges. The
remaining six, having eaten and drunk their fill, and believing in
their security, turned to slumber. Hardly had the two roysterers
arrived at the Indian camp than instead of the cordial privacy they
expected, they were confronted by two score famished men drawn up in
front of the lodges, knives in hand and brandishing hatchets. All
unarmed as they were, they were unceremoniously seized and slain. As
no trace was ever found of their bodies, they were, although denied by
the eye-witness of the tragedy, a squaw, probably devoured on the
spot. The younger men now stole again to the French camp and massacred
all the others in their sleep, save one, who being wounded feigned
death, and afterwards managed to crawl off. But he, with his
companions, had been stripped to the skin by the savages, and in this
state, and half-covered with blood, he made his way back to the fort.
The distance being ten leagues, his survival is a matter of wonder,
even to those hardy men of the wilderness.

The Governor naturally apprehended that the Indians would attempt to
follow up their crime by an attack upon the fort.

As only nine men remained in the garrison, it was felt impossible to
defend both of the French establishments. He therefore withdrew the
men hastily from the little Fort Philipeaux near by, and none too
quickly, for the Indians came immediately before it. Finding nobody in
charge they wrought a speedy and vigorous pillage, taking many pounds
of powder which Jérémie had not had time to transfer to Bourbon.

The condition of the French during the winter of 1708-9 was pitiable
in the extreme. Surrounded by starving, blood-thirsty savages, with
insufficient provisions, and hardly ever daring to venture out, they
may well have received the tidings with joy that the indomitable
English Company had re-established a Factory some leagues distant, and
were driving a brisk trade with the eager tribes.

It was not until 1713 that the French Fur Company succeeded in
relieving its post of Fort Bourbon. It had twice sent ships, but these
had been intercepted on the high seas by the English and pillaged or
destroyed. The _Providence_ arrived the very year of the Treaty of
Utrecht.

[Sidenote: Starvation amongst the Indians.]

But wretched as was the case of the French, that of the Indians was
lamentable indeed. A few more years of French occupation and the
forests and rivers of the Bay would know its race of hunters no more.
Many hundreds lay dead within a radius of twenty leagues from the
fort, the flesh devoured from their bones. They had lost the use of
the bow and arrow since the advent of the Europeans, and they had no
resource as cultivators of the soil; besides their errant life forbade
this. Pressed by a long hunger, parents had killed their children for
food; the strong had devoured the weak. One of these unhappy victims
of civilization and commercial rivalries, confessed to the commandant
that he had eaten his wife and six children. He had, he declared, not
experienced the pangs of tenderness until the time came for him to
sacrifice his last child, whom he loved more than the others, and that
he had gone away weeping, leaving a portion of the body buried in the
earth.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] "Six or seven times over," the Company say in their reply.

[38] After the battle of Port Nelson, Iberville had returned to France
leaving Martigny in command of the Fort. His subsequent career may be
read elsewhere; the Bay was no longer to be the theatre of his
exploits. He perished in 1707 at Havana.

[39] At Albany they were surrounded by the French on every side, a
circumstance which greatly sapped their commerce. Yet, even at this
period, the importation of beaver and other peltries from the single
fort remaining to them was above thirty thousand annually.




CHAPTER XVI.

1697-1712.

     Company Seriously Damaged by Loss of Port Nelson -- Send an
     Account of their Claims to Lords of Trade -- Definite Boundary
     Propositions of Trade -- Lewis anxious to Create Boundaries --
     Company look to Outbreak of War -- War of Spanish Succession
     breaks out -- Period of Adversity for the Company -- Employment
     of Orkneymen -- Attack on Fort Albany -- Desperate Condition of
     the French at York Fort -- Petition to Anne.


The Treaty of Ryswick[40] had aimed a severe blow at the prosperity of
the Company,[41] in depriving them of that important quarter of the
Bay known as Port Nelson.

Although now on the threshold of a long period of adversity, the
Merchants-Adventurers, losing neither hope nor courage, continued to
raise their voice for restitution and justice. Petition after petition
found its way to King, Commons, and the Lords of Trade and
Plantations.

[Sidenote: The Company's claims.]

In May, 1700, the Company were requested by the Lord of Trade and
Plantations to send an account of the encroachments of the French on
Her Majesty's Dominion in America within the limits of the Company's
charter; to which the Company replied, setting forth their right and
title, and praying restitution.

It has been stated, and urged as a ground against the later
pretensions of the Hudson's Bay Company, that at this time they were
willing to contract their limits. While willing to do this for the
purpose of effecting a settlement, it was only on condition of their
not being able to obtain "the whole Straits and Bay which of right
belongs to them."

"This," remarked a counsel for the Company in a later day, "is like a
man who has a suit of ejectment, who, in order to avoid the expense
and trouble of a law suit, says, 'I will be willing to allow you
certain bounds, but if you do not accept that I will insist on getting
all my rights and all that I am entitled to.'"

The Company's propositions soon began to take a definite form.

          THE COMPANY'S CLAIMS AFTER THE TREATY OF RYSWICK.

     [_To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Trade and
     Plantations._]

     The limits which the Hudson's Bay Company conceive to be
     necessary as boundaries between the French and them in case of
     an exchange of places, and that the Company cannot obtain the
     whole Streights and Bay, which of right belongs to them,
     viz.:--

     1. That the French be limited not to trade by wood-runners, or
     otherwise, nor build any House, Factory, or Fort, beyond the
     bounds of 53 degrees, or Albany River, vulgarly called
     Chechewan, to the northward, on the west or main coast.

     2. That the French be likewise limited not to trade by
     wood-runners, or otherwise, nor build any House, Factory, or
     Fort, beyond Rupert's River, to the northward, on the east or
     main coast.

     3. On the contrary, the English shall be obliged not to trade
     by wood-runners, or otherwise, nor build any House, Factory, or
     Fort, beyond the aforesaid latitude of 53 degrees, or Albany
     River, vulgarly called Chechewan, south-east towards Canada, on
     any land which belongs to the Hudson's Bay Company.

     4. As also the English be likewise obliged not to trade by
     wood-runners, or otherwise, nor build any House, Factory, or
     Fort, beyond Rupert's River, to the south-east, towards Canada,
     on any land which belongs to the Hudson's Bay Company.

     5. As likewise, that neither the French or English shall at any
     time hereafter extend their bounds contrary to the aforesaid
     limitations, nor instigate the natives to make war, or join
     with either, in any acts of hostility to the disturbance or
     detriment of the trade of either nation, which the French may
     very reasonably comply with, for that they by such limitations
     will have all the country south-eastward betwixt Albany Fort
     and Canada to themselves, which is not only the best and most
     fertile part, but also a much larger tract of land than can be
     supposed to be to the northward, and the Company deprived of
     that which was always their undoubted right.

     And unless the Company can be secured according to these
     propositions, they think it will be impossible for them to
     continue long at York Fort (should they exchange with the
     French), nor will the trade answer their charge; and therefore
     if your lordships cannot obtain these so reasonable
     propositions from the French, but that they insist to have the
     limits settled between [Albany and] York and Albany Fort, as in
     the latitude of 55 degrees or thereabouts, the Company can by
     no means agree thereto, for they by such an agreement will be
     the instruments of their own ruin, never to be retrieved.

          By order of the General Court,

               WM. POTTER, _Secretary_.

     Confirmed by the General Court of }
     the said Company, 10th July, 1700.}

The adventurers were, they said, not indisposed to listen to reason.
They proposed limits to be observed by the two nations in their trade
and possessions in the Bay. But should the French be so foolish as to
refuse their offer, then they would not be bound by that or any former
concession, but would then, as they had always theretofore done,
"insist upon the prior and undoubted right to the whole of the Bay and
straits."

[Sidenote: Lewis proposes boundaries.]

The Court of Versailles was now most anxious to delimit the boundaries
of the respective possessions of the two countries in the Bay. To this
end, proposals were exchanged between the two crown governments. One
alternative proposed by the French Ambassador was that the Weemish
River, which was exactly half way between Fort Bourbon and Fort
Albany, should mark the respective limits of the French on the east,
while the limits of New France on the side of Acadia should be
restricted to the River St. George.

This proposition having been referred to them, the Board of Trade and
Plantations discouraged the scheme. The Hudson's Bay Adventurers it
said, challenged an undoubted right to the whole Bay, antecedent to
any pretence of the French. It was, therefore, requisite that they
should be consulted before any concession of territories could be made
to the Most Christian King or his subjects.

The Company pinned their hopes to an outbreak of hostilities,[42]
which would enable them to attempt to regain what they had lost. A
protracted peace was hardly looked for by the nation. In answer to
Governor Knight's continual complaints, to which were added those of
the dispossessed Geyer, the Company begged its servants to bide their
time; and to exert themselves to the utmost to increase the trade at
Albany, and Moose, and Rupert's River.

"England," says the historian Green, "was still clinging desperately
to the hope of peace, when Lewis, by a sudden act, forced it into war.
He had acknowledged William as King in the Peace of Ryswick, and
pledged himself to oppose all the attacks on his throne. He now
entered the bed-chamber at St. Germain, where James was breathing his
last, and promised to acknowledge his son at his death as King of
England, Scotland and Ireland."

[Sidenote: Outbreak of the war between England and France.]

Such a promise was tantamount to a declaration of war, and in a moment
England sprang to arms. None were so eager for the approaching strife
as the Honourable Merchants-Adventurers. They expressed their opinion
that, while their interests had undoubtedly suffered at the peace of
1697, they were far from attributing it to any want of care on the
part of his Majesty. Their rights and claims, they said, were then
"overweighed by matters of higher consequence depending in that
juncture for the glory and honour of the King."

Yet a dozen more years were to elapse before they were to come into
their own again; and during that critical period much was to happen to
affect their whole internal economy. The value of the shares fell; the
original Adventurers were all since deceased, and many of their heirs
had disposed of their interests. A new set of shareholders appeared on
the scene; not simultaneously, but one by one, until almost the entire
personnel of the Company had yielded place to a new, by no means of
the same weight or calibre.[43]

Mention has already been made of the manner in which the Company
devoted its thought and energy to its weekly meetings. Not even in
the gravest crises to which the East India Company was subjected, was
there a statute more inconvenient or severe, than the following:
"Resolved and ordered by the Committee, to prevent the Company's
business from being delayed or neglected, that for the future if any
member do not appear by one hour after the time mentioned in the
summons and the glass run out, or shall depart without leave of the
Committee, such member shall have no part in the moneys to be divided
by the Committee, and that the time aforesaid be determined by the
going of the clock in the Court-room, which the Secretary is to set as
he can to the Exchange clock; and that no leave shall be given until
one hour after the glass is run out."

But out of their adversity sprung a proposition which, although not
put into effect upon a large scale until many years afterwards, yet
well deserves to be recorded here. To stem the tide of desertions from
the Company's service, caused by the war, and the low rate of wages,
it was in 1710 first suggested that youthful Scotchmen be
employed.[44]

[Sidenote: Employment of Scotchmen in the service.]

The scarcity of servants seems to have continued. In the following
year greater bribes were resorted to. "Captain Mounslow was now
ordered to provide fifteen or sixteen young able men to go to H. B.
This expedition for five years, which he may promise to have wages,
viz.: £8 the 1st year; £10 the 2nd; £12 the 3rd and £14 for the two
last years, and to be advanced £3 each before they depart from
Gravesend." The result of this was that in June, 1711, the first batch
of these servants came aboard the Company's ship at Stromness. But
they were not destined to sail away to the Bay in their full numbers.
Overhauled by one of Her Majesty's ships, eleven of the young men were
impressed into the service. For many years after this incident it was
not found easy to engage servants in the Orkneys.

  [Illustration: "The younger men now stole again to the French camp
   and massacred all the others in their sleep."
   (_See page 185._)]

Captain Barlow was governor at Albany Fort in 1704 when the French
came overland from Canada to besiege it. The Canadians and their
Indian guides lurked in the neighbourhood of Albany for several days
before they made the attack, and killed many of the cattle that were
grazing in the marshes. A faithful Home Indian (as those Crees in the
vicinity were always termed), who was on a hunting excursion,
discovered those strangers, and correctly supposing them to be
enemies, immediately returned to the fort and informed the governor of
the circumstance. Barlow, while giving little credit to the report,
yet took immediately every measure for the fort's defence. Orders were
given to the master of a sloop hard by to hasten to the fort should he
hear a gun fired.

In the middle of the night the French came before the fort, marched up
to the gate and demanded entrance. Barlow, who was on watch, told them
that the governor was asleep, but he would go for the keys at once.
The French, according to the governor, on hearing this, and expecting
no resistance, flocked up to the gate as close as they could stand.
Barlow took advantage of this opportunity, and instead of opening the
gate opened two port-holes, and discharged the contents of two
six-pounders into the gathering. This quantity of grape-shot
slaughtered great numbers of the French, and amongst them their
commander, who was an Irishman.

A precipitate retreat followed such an unexpected reception; and the
master of the sloop hearing the firing proceeded with the greatest
haste to the spot. But some of the enemy, who lay in ambush on the
river's bank, intercepted and killed him, with his entire crew.

Seeing no chance of surprising the fort, the French retired
reluctantly, and did not renew the attack; although some of them were
heard shooting in the neighbourhood for ten days after their repulse.
One man in particular was noticed to walk up and down the platform
leading from the gate of the fort to the launch for a whole day. At
sundown Fullerton, the governor, thinking his conduct extraordinary,
ventured out and spoke to the man in French. He offered him lodgings
within the fort if he chose to accept them; but to such and similar
proposals the man made no reply, shaking his head. Fullerton then
informed him that unless he would surrender himself as his prisoner he
would have no alternative but to shoot him. In response to this the
man advanced nearer the fort. The governor kept his word, and the
unhappy Frenchman fell, pierced by a bullet. No explanation of his
eccentric behaviour was ever forthcoming, but it may be that the
hardships he expected to encounter on his return to Canada had
unbalanced his mind, and made him prefer death to these while scorning
surrender.

[Sidenote: Desperate condition of the French at Fort York.]

It was some solace to know that their French rivals were in trouble,
and that York Factory had hardly proved as great a source of profit to
the French Company as had been anticipated. The achievements of
Iberville and his brothers had done little, as has been shown, to
permanently better its fortunes. To such an extent had these declined,
that the capture, in 1704, of the principal ship of the French Company
by an English frigate, forced these traders to invoke the assistance
of the Mother Country in providing them with facilities for the relief
of the forts and the transportation of the furs to France. In the
following year, the garrison at Fort Bourbon nearly perished for lack
of provisions. The assistance was given; but two years later it was
discontinued, because they could no longer spare either ships or men.
Although both were urgently needed for defence against the New
Englanders. Owing to the enormous increase of unlicensed bushrangers,
the continued hostilities and the unsettled state of the country, no
small proportion of the entire population chose rather to adventure
the perils of illicit trade in the wilderness, than to serve the king
in the wars at home.[45] Unaccustomed for so long a period to till the
soil, their submission was not easily secured, no matter how dire the
penalties.

Finding their continual petitions to the Lords of Trade ineffectual,
the Company now drew up a more strongly worded one and presented it
to Queen Anne herself. The memorial differed from any other, inasmuch
as the Company now lay stress for the first time on some other feature
of their commerce than furs.

"The said country doth abound with several other commodities (of which
your petitioners have not been able to begin a trade, by reason of the
interruptions they have met with from the French) as of whale-bone,
whale-oil (of which last your subjects now purchase from Holland and
Germany to the value of £26,000 per annum, which may be had in your
own dominions), besides many other valuable commodities, which in time
may be discovered."

If the French, it was argued, came to be entirely possessed of
Hudson's Bay, they would undoubtedly give up whale fishing in those
parts, which will greatly tend to the increase of their navigation and
to their breed of seamen.

     When your Majesty, in your high wisdom, shall think fit to give
     peace to those enemies whom your victorious arms have so
     reduced and humbled, and when your Majesty shall judge it for
     your people's good to enter into a treaty of peace with the
     French King, your petitioners pray that the said Prince be
     obliged by such treaty, to renounce all right and pretensions
     to the Bay and Streights of Hudson, to quit and surrender all
     posts and settlements erected by the French, or which are now
     in their possession, as likewise not to sail any ships or
     vessels within the limits of the Company's charter, and to make
     restitution of the £108,514, 19s. 8d., of which they robbed and
     despoiled your petitioners in times of perfect amity between
     the two Kingdoms.

This petition seems actually to have come into the hands of the Queen
and to have engaged her sympathy, for which the Honourable Adventurers
had to thank John Robinson, the Lord Bishop of London. This dignitary,
_persona grata_ in the highest degree to the sovereign, was also a
close personal friend of the Lake family, whose fortunes[46] were long
bound up with the Hudson's Bay Company. The Company was asked to state
what terms it desired to make. In great joy they acceded to the
request.

     TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF TRADES AND
     PLANTATIONS.

     _The Memorandum of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of
     England trading into Hudson's Bay:_

     That for avoiding all disputes and differences that may, in
     time to come, arise between the said Company and the French,
     settled in Canada, they humbly represent and conceive it
     necessary--

     That no wood-runners, either French or Indians, or any other
     person whatsoever, be permitted to travel, or seek for trade,
     beyond the limits hereinafter mentioned.

     That the said limits began from the island called Grimington's
     Island, or Cape Perdrix, in the latitude of 58½° north, which
     they desire may be the boundary between the English and the
     French, on the coast of Labrador, towards Rupert's Land, on the
     east main, and Novia Britannia on the French side, and that no
     French ship, bark, boat or vessel whatsoever, shall pass to the
     northward of Cape Perdrix or Grimington's Island, towards or
     into the Streights or Bay of Hudson, on any pretence whatever.

[Sidenote: Demand of the Company.]

     That a line be supposed to pass to the south-westward of the
     said Island of Grimington or Cape Perdrix to the great Lake
     Miscosinke, _alias_ Mistoveny, dividing the same into two parts
     (as in the map now delivered), and that the French, nor any
     others employed by them, shall come to the north or
     north-westward of the said lake, or supposed line, by land or
     water, or through any rivers, lakes or countries, to trade, or
     erect any forts or settlements whatsoever; and the English, on
     the contrary, not to pass the said supposed line either to the
     southward or eastward.

     That the French be likewise obliged to quit, surrender and
     deliver up to the English, upon demand, York Fort (by them
     called Bourbon), undemolished; together with all forts,
     factories, settlements and buildings whatsoever, taken from the
     English, or since erected or built by the French, with all the
     artillery and ammunition, in the condition they are now in;
     together with all other places they are possessed of within the
     limits aforesaid, or within the Bay and Streights of Hudson.

     These limits being first settled and adjusted, the Company are
     willing to refer their losses and damages formerly sustained by
     the French in time of peace, to the consideration of
     commissioners to be appointed for that purpose.

     By order of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England,
     trading into Hudson's Bay.

     Hudson's Bay House, 7th of February, 1711-12.


A LIST OF FORTS FROM 1668 TO 1714.

     1. Rupert, called by the French St. Jacques. Founded 1668 by
     Gillam. Taken by the French under Troyes and Iberville, July,
     1686. Retaken by the English, 1693.

     2. Fort Monsippi, Monsonis, St. Lewis and Moose Fort, taken by
     Troyes and Iberville 20th June, 1686. Retaken 1693.

     3. Fort Chechouan, St. Anne or Albany, taken by de Troyes and
     Iberville in 1686. Retaken 1693.

     4. New Severn or Nieu Savanne, taken by Iberville, 1690.

     5. Fort Bourbon, Nelson or York. Founded 1670. Taken by the
     French, 1682, acting for English, 1684. Retaken by Iberville
     12th October, 1894. Retaken by the English 1696, and by the
     French, 1697. Retaken by the English, 1714.

     6. Fort Churchill, 1688.

     7. East Main.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] By the Treaty of Ryswick, Great Britain and France were
respectively to deliver up to each other generally whatever
possessions either held before the outbreak of the war, and it was
specially provided that this should be applicable to the places in
Hudson's Bay taken by the French during the peace which preceded the
war, which, though retaken by the British during the war, were to be
given up to the French. Commissioners were to be appointed in
pursuance of the Treaty to determine the rights and pretensions which
either nation had to the places in Hudson's Bay. But these
commissioners never met. The commissioners must, however, have been
bound by the text of the Treaty wherever it was explicit. They
_might_, said the Company's opponents, have decided that France had a
right to the whole, but they could _not_ have decided that Great
Britain had a right to the whole. They would have been compelled to
make over to France all the places she took during the peace which
preceded the war, for in that the Treaty left them no discretion. The
following are the words of the Treaty:--"But the possession of those
places which were taken by the French, during the peace that preceded
this present war, and were retaken by the English during the war,
shall be left to the French by virtue of the foregoing article." Thus
the Treaty of Ryswick recognized and confirmed the right of France to
certain places in Hudson's Bay distinctly and definitely, but it
recognized no right at all on the part of Great Britain; it merely
provided a tribunal to try whether she had any or not.

[41] "Therefore, we shall proceed to inform your Lordships of the
present melancholy prospects of our trade and settlement in Hudson's
Bay, and that none of his Majesty's plantations are left in such a
deplorable state as those of this Company, for by their great losses
by the French, both in times of peace as well as during the late war,
together with the hardships they lie under by the late Treaty of
Ryswick, they may be said to be the only mourners by the peace. They
cannot but inform your Lordships that the only settlement that the
Company now have left in Hudson's Bay (of seven they formerly
possessed) is Albany Fort, vulgarly called Checheawan, in the bottom
of the said Bay, where they are surrounded by the French on every
side, viz., by their settlements on the lakes and rivers from Canada
to the northwards, towards Hudson's Bay, as also from Port Nelson (Old
York Fort) to the southward; but beside this, the Company have, by the
return of their ship this year, received certain intelligence that the
French have made another settlement at a place called New Severn,
'twixt Port Nelson and Albany Fort, whereby they have hindered the
Indians from coming to trade at the Company's factory, at the bottom
of the Bay, so that the Company this year have not received above
one-fifth part of the returns they usually had from thence, insomuch
that the same doth not answer the expense of their expedition."

[42] The Company being by these and other misfortunes reduced to such
a low and miserable condition, that, without his Majesty's favour and
assistance, they are in no ways able to keep that little remainder
they are yet possessed of in Hudson's Bay, but may justly fear in a
short time to be deprived of all their trade in those parts which is
solely negotiated by the manufacturers of this kingdom. Upon the whole
matter, the Company humbly conceive, they can be no ways safe from the
insults and encroachments of the French, so long as they are suffered
to remain possessed of any place in Hudson's Bay, and that in order to
dislodge them from thence (which the Company are no ways able to do) a
force of three men-of-war, one bomb-vessel, and two hundred and fifty
soldiers besides the ships' company will be necessary, whereby that
vast tract of land which is of so great concern, not only to this
Company in particular, but likewise to the whole nation in general,
may not be utterly lost to this kingdom.

[43] The Duke of York's (James II.) share, however, was retained by
his heirs up to 1746.

[44] Captain John Merry is desired to speak with Captain Moody, who
has a nephew in the Orkneys, to write to him to provide fifteen or
sixteen young men, about twenty years old, to be entertained by the
Company, to serve them for four years in Hudson's Bay, at the rate of
£6 per annum, the wages formerly given by the Company.--From the
Company's Order Book, 29th February, 1710.

[45] "This country," it was remarked in 1710, "is composed of persons
of various character and different inclinations. One and the other
ought to be managed, and can contribute to render it flourishing."

[46] I find the following in the minute books, under date of 24th
March, 1714. "It was resolved that the Committee when they meet Friday
come Senuit, do agree to wait on the Lord Bishop of London, in order
to return him the thanks of this Company for the care that has been
taken of them by the Treaty of Ryswick."




CHAPTER XVII.

1712-1720.

     Queen Anne Espouses the Cause of the Company -- Prior's View of
     its Wants -- Treaty of Utrecht -- Joy of the Adventurers --
     Petition for Act of Cession -- Not Pressed by the British
     Government -- Governor Knight Authorized to take Possession of
     Port Nelson -- "Smug Ancient Gentlemen" -- Commissioners to
     Ascertain Rights -- Their Meeting in Paris -- Matters move
     slowly -- Bladen and Pulteney return to England.


At last the Company had triumphed. Its rights had been admitted; the
Queen and her ministers were convinced of the justice of its
claims.[47] Peace, long and anxiously awaited, began to dawn over the
troubled horizon. Lewis and his courtiers had long sickened of the
war: and at the Flemish town of Utrecht negotiations were on foot for
a cessation of hostilities and the adjustment of differences between
the crowns of England and France.

The view which Matthew Prior, the English plenipotentiary, took of the
Company's rights was not one, however, inspired by that body. He
wanted the trade of the country, rather than the sovereignty.

"I take leave to add to your lordship," he observes at the end of a
communication addressed to the Secretary of State, "that these
limitations are not otherwise advantageous or prejudicial to Great
Britain than as we are both better or worse with the native Indians;
and that the whole is a matter rather of industry than of dominion."

These negotiations finally resulted in a treaty signed on the 31st of
March (O.S.), 1713, by which the whole of Hudson's Bay was ceded to
Great Britain without any distinct definition of boundaries, for the
determining of which commissioners were to be appointed.

[Sidenote: Effect of the Treaty on the Company.]

On the news of the conclusion of the Treaty, the Adventurers were
filled with joy. The Committee was in session when a messenger came
hot haste from Whitehall to bear the glad tidings. A General Court was
convoked for several days later. Plans were concerted for securing the
very most that the circumstances would allow. It was necessary to
secure the Act of Cession which it was supposed would be issued by
Lewis, ceding to Great Britain the places on Hudson's Bay, the Company
being regarded merely in the light of sub-ordinary subjects. Many of
the members wished to press at once for pecuniary compensation, but
the wiser heads agreed that this would best be a matter for subsequent
negotiation. Many thought indeed that perhaps there need be no haste
in the matter, as the interest on the original estimate of damages,
already nearly double the principal, was growing daily at an enormous
rate.

"As to the Company's losses," says a memorandum of this year, "it will
appear by a true and exact estimate that the French took from the
Company in full peace between 1682 and 1688 seven ships, with their
cargoes, and six forts and caches in which were carried away great
stores of goods laid up for trading with the Indians. The whole
amounts to £38,332 15s., and £62,210 18s. 9d. interest, computed to
1713."

[Sidenote: Company's claim for compensation.]

Under date of 30th July, 1714, occurs the following: "The Committee
having received a letter from the Lords Commissioners of Trade, and
they desiring their attendance on Tuesday next, and to bring in
writing the demands of the Co. for damages rec'd from the French in
times of peace pursuant to the 10th & 11th Articles of the Treaty of
Utrecht. Upon which the Secretary is ordered to Copy out the Abstract
of the whole damage sustained, amounting to with Interest the sum of
£100,543-13-9; as likewise the particulars in these small volumes in
order to present the same to the Commission of Trade on Wednesday
next."

It does not seem to have been doubted but that the Queen, if
petitioned, would grant the Company's request in time to send an
expedition to the Bay that very year.[48]

But while vessels were being acquired, fitted out and loaded with
cargoes, the Company was wise enough not to run the risk of falling
into a trap. Nothing was to be done without the fullest royal
authority.

It is worthy of remark as illustrating how much the Company trusted
the Canadian authorities, Bolingbroke (May 29, 1713) reminded the Duke
of Shrewsbury (then at Paris) that in Pontchartrain's letter to the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, the latter was directed to
yield the forts and settlements belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company:
"But this order the Merchants thought would hardly fulfil their
requirements. They were despatching two ships to the Bay. It would
therefore be better if his grace obtained direct order to M. Jérémie
in duplicate."

[Sidenote: No Act of Cession.]

But the Act of Cession eagerly awaited by the Company was not
forthcoming. The Queen's advisers were wiser than anybody else. Lord
Dartmouth's letter[49] of the 27th May, 1713, enclosing the petition
of the Hudson's Bay Company, shows what was the design in not
accepting an Act of Cession from the French King. Her Majesty insisted
only upon an order from the French Court for delivering possession;
"by which means the title of the Company was acknowledged, and they
will come into the immediate enjoyment of their property without
further trouble."

The summer of 1713 came on apace, and it was soon too late to think of
occupying Port Nelson that year. But all was made ready for the next.
On the 5th of June, 1714, many of the Adventurers hied themselves to
Gravesend, to wish Governor Knight and his deputy, Henry Kelsey,
godspeed. "The Committee," we read in the minutes, "delivered to
Captain Knight, Her Majesty's Royal Commission, to take possession
(for the Company) of York Fort, and all other places within the Bay
and Straits of Hudson. Also another Commission from Her Majesty
constituting him Governor under the Company, and Mr. H. Kelsey, Deputy
Governor of the Bay and Straits of Hudson, aforesaid."

Knight took with him, likewise, "the French King's order under his
hand and seal, to Mons. Jérémie, Commander at York Fort, to deliver
the same to whom Her Majesty should appoint, pursuant to the Treaty of
Utrick."

Knight's eyes, now dimmed with age, were gladdened by the sight of
Port Nelson, on the 25th of July. Jérémie was already advised by the
French ship, and no time was lost in evacuation. A bargain was made
for such buildings and effects as the French had no further use for,
which had been beforehand arranged. "From his particular regard for
the Queen of Great Britain, the King will leave to her the artillery
and ammunition in the forts and places in Hudson's Bay and Straits,
notwithstanding the urgent reasons His Majesty has to withdraw them,
and to appropriate them elsewhere." The cannon were accordingly left.

[Sidenote: Regulation of boundary.]

By Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht it was proposed, in order to
avoid all further conflict and misunderstanding, that commissioners
should be appointed to regulate the boundaries of Hudson's Bay and the
extent of the trade thereof, which should be enjoyed by each.[50] But
no great haste was apparent on the part of France to secure this end.
For several years nothing was done in the matter, save and except the
persistent exchange of letters between the two ambassadors. There is a
letter of Bolingbroke's which evinces the feeling current in
diplomatic circles at the time.

"There is nothing more persistent in the world," he says, "than these
claims of the Hudson's Bay Company. We are desirous greatly to see all
these smug ancient gentlemen satisfied; but notwithstanding we are
unable to budge an inch. The truth of the business seems to me to be
that the French are always hoping that their ultimate concessions will
be less and the English that these concessions will be vastly more. As
for ourselves we have no desire to play with frost; and I for one
shall be relieved to see this question thawed out without further
delay."

Lewis had consented, at the time of the Peace, to afterwards name two
commissioners who should give possession to such of the English, as
proved that they were actual proprietors, or the heirs of proprietors
of those who had in a former time possessed property in the Bay. This
seemed to provide for the Company's rights in a manner most
satisfactory.

[Sidenote: Appointment of a Commission.]

Nevertheless matters dragged on, and it was not until 1719 that a
practical movement was made. On the 3rd of September of that year,
Daniel Pulteney and Martin Bladen, Lords of Trade, were appointed
Commissioners in response to the appointment by Lewis of the Mareschal
Comte d'Estrees and the Abbé Dubois, Minister and Secretary of State.
Pulteney was an Indian merchant, and Bladen had been an officer in the
army.

The Lords of Trade having made the suggestion, the Company now wished
their Governor, Sir Bibye Lake, to go over to Paris the "more
earnestly to solicit and prosecute the claims of the Honourable
Adventurers."

"It is by this Committee desired most humbly of the Governor to accept
and undertake this journey and to manage the Company's affairs there,
as he shall judge most conducive to their interest and advantage.
Which, being signified to the Governor, he did, to the great
satisfaction of the Committee readily undertake and accept the same.
It was ordered that the Governor have liberty to take with him such
person or persons to France as he shall think fit."

Lake accordingly joined Bladen and Pulteney, and was permitted to take
a silent part in the conference.

It was intended that this Commission, meeting in Paris, should have
power to settle generally the boundaries between the English and
French possessions in America. But this was soon seen to be
impracticable. The settlement of these matters was too vast and
complicated for the Commission to deal with; and the Lords of Trade
instructed Bladen, on his setting out, to deal only with the Hudson's
Bay territories. It is significant that private instructions of a
similar nature were at the same time conveyed to the French
Commissioners by the Court.

The Commissioners finally met. Perhaps it would be a pity if Bladen's
own quaint account of what followed were allowed to perish:--

     On Saturday last, my Lord Stair and I met Marechal d'Estrees
     and Abbé Dubois. Our time was spent in preparatory discourses
     concerning the intent of the 10th article of the Treaty of
     Utrecht, relating to the boundaries of Hudson's Bay; and at our
     next meeting, which will be to-morrow at my Lord Stair's House,
     we design to give in the claim of the Hudson's Bay Company, in
     writing, with some few additions pretty material for their
     service, in case the Abbé Dubois his health will allow him to
     be there, which I fear it will not, for he is confined at
     present to his bed.

[Sidenote: Martin Bladen's description of the Commission.]

     But I confess, I cannot help thinking it will be to a very
     little purpose to puzzle ourselves about setting boundaries, by
     treaty, in the North of America, if the French have so concise
     a way of fixing theirs in the south, without asking our
     concurrence; it is to be hoped they will have the modesty to
     recede from this new acquisition, but in the meantime I cannot
     help saying this gives me no very good relish either of their
     friendship or discretion.

     I cannot leave this subject without observing how much it
     imports us to be upon our guard in our American Colonies. It
     were to be wished that the several Governments of His Majesty's
     plantations would pay the respect they owe to their
     instructions, and if those of Barbados for some time past had
     observed theirs, relating to Santa Lucia, the settlement of a
     hundred French families there could never have been put upon us
     at this day as a proof of their right to that island.

There is, further, much talk of a "multiplicity of books and papers
necessary to be read," and of "arduous labours" in going over maps,
charts and memoirs, which, however numerous, "are not to be depended
on."[51]

While this initial work was going on, one of the adventurers was
entreating his fellows at a Company meeting in London, to take note of
a scheme which the French had been insidiously attempting for the
previous four years to utterly destroy not only the Company's trade,
but all the English colonies as well. He proceeded to read a private
letter from a relation in the colony of Pennsylvania in which it was
shewn that the Mississippi Company required close watching.

"Its leaders are egged on by the Jesuits, and will stop at no bloody
measures to draw down trade from the Indians. Their projects must
inevitably succeed if we are not watchful."

This was put forward as one potent reason why the French were
complaisant about yielding us the Bay itself. It was but the shell
they would surrender, whilst preserving to themselves the kernel.

This letter from the Pennsylvanian had its effect upon the
easily-alarmed adventurers, for they lost no time in communicating
their apprehensions to the Lords of Trade.

The matter was sent forward to Bladen and Pulteney. "It were heartily
to be wished," the Company observed, "that in imitation of our
industrious neighbours the French, some means can be determined upon
to extend the trade in furs southwards."

In response, Bladen imparted a brilliant idea. He suggested that St.
Augustine might be "reduced at a small cost," and advantage taken
thereby of the war then in progress with Spain.

Matters went on in Paris as badly as could be. The English
commissioners lost all patience. Nothing was in the air but John Law
and his Mississippi scheme. The three distinguished Englishmen,
Bladen, Pulteney and Lake, were dined and feted: but were at length
disgusted with the whole business.[52] The "smug ancient gentlemen,"
as Bolingbroke had irreverently dubbed the Honourable Adventurers,
were not to be satisfied in regard to the delimitation of boundaries
and at this time. But perhaps even they had less interest in Hudson's
Bay at heart than new interests which had dramatically arisen much
nearer home.

Governor Lake was sent for suddenly from London, and Bladen and
Pulteney were not long in following him.

FOOTNOTES:

[47]        THE LORDS OF TRADE TO THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH.
     _To the Right Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth._

     MY LORD,--In obedience to Her Majesty's commands, signified to
     us, we have considered the enclosed petition from the Hudson's
     Bay Company to Her Majesty, and are humbly of opinion that the
     said Company have a good right and just title to the whole Bay
     and Streights of Hudson.

     Since the receipt of which petition, the said Company have
     delivered us a memorial, relating to the settlement of
     boundaries between them and the French of Canada, a copy
     whereof is enclosed, and upon which we take leave to offer,
     that as it will be for the advantage of the said Company that
     their boundaries be settled, it will also be necessary that the
     boundaries between Her Majesty's colonies on the continent of
     America and the said French of Canada be likewise agreed and
     settled; wherefore we humbly offer these matters may be
     recommended to Her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries at Utrecht.

          We are,
               My Lord,
          Your Lordship's most obedient, and most humble servants,
               WINCHELSEA,
               PH. MEADOWS,
               CHAS. TURNER,
               GEO. BAILLIE,
               ARTH. MOORE,
               FRA. GWYN.

     Whitehall, February 19th, 1711-12.

[48]      THE COMPANY'S PETITION TO QUEEN ANNE FOR ACT OF CESSION.

     _To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty_:--

     The humble petition of the Governor and Company of Adventurers
     of England trading into Hudson's Bay, sheweth:

     That your petitioners, being informed that the Act of Cession
     is come over, whereby (among other matters thereby concerted)
     the French King obliges himself to restore to your Majesty (or
     to whom your Majesty shall appoint to take possession thereof)
     the Bay and Streights of Hudson, as also all forts and edifices
     whatsoever, entire and demolished, together with guns, shot,
     powder and other warlike provisions (as mentioned in the 10th
     article of the present treaty of peace), within six months
     after the ratification thereof, or sooner, if possible it may
     be done.

     Your petitioners do most humbly pray your Majesty will be
     graciously pleased to direct the said Act of Cession may be
     transmitted to your petitioners, as also your Majesty's
     commission to Captain James Knight and Mr. Henry Kelsey,
     gentleman, to authorize them, or either of them, to take
     possession of the premises above mentioned, and to constitute
     Captain James Knight to be Governor of the fortress called Fort
     Nelson, and all other forts and edifices, lands, seas, rivers
     and places aforesaid; and the better to enable your petitioners
     to recover the same, they humbly pray your Majesty to give
     orders that they may have a small man-of-war to depart with
     their ships, by the 12th of June next ensuing, which ship may
     in all probability return in the month of October.

     And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

     By order of the Company.
          per WM. POTTER, SECRETARY.

[49] "MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,--The Queen has commanded me to transmit
to you the enclosed petition of the Hudson's Bay Company, that you may
consider of it and report your opinion what orders may properly be
given upon the several particulars mentioned. In the meantime I am to
acquaint you that the places and countries therein named, belonging of
right to British subjects, Her Majesty did not think fit to receive
any Act of Cession from the French King, and has therefore insisted
only upon an order from that Court for delivering possession to such
persons as should be authorized by Her Majesty to take it; by this
means the title of the Company is acknowledged, and they will come
into the immediate enjoyment of their property without further
trouble."

[50] In 1714 the Hudson's Bay Company sent a memorandum to the Lords
Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, accompanied by a map in which
they claimed that the eastern boundary should be a line running from
Grimington's Island through Lake Miscosinke or Mistassinnie, and from
the said lake by a line run south-westward into 49 degrees north
latitude, as by the red line may more particularly appear, and that
that latitude be the limit; that the French do not come to the north
of it, nor the English to the south of it.

[51]      MR. BLADEN TO MR. DELEFAYE.

     PARIS, November 11th, 1719, N.S.

On Wednesday last, my Lord Stair and I delivered to the Marechal
d'Estrees the demand of the Hudson's Bay Company, with respect to
their limits, and by comparing the enclosed, which is a copy of that
demand, with the instruction upon his head, you will perceive the same
has been fully complied with.

So soon as I shall have the French Commissary's answer to our demand,
I shall likewise take care to transmit you a copy of it, to be laid
before their Excellencys the Lord Justices.

[52]      PARIS, May the 4th, N.S., 1720.

     MR. PULTENEY TO MR. SECRETARY CRAGGS.

My Lord Stair has spoke to the Regent, who said immediately that the
conferences shall be renewed whenever we please; His Excellency then
desired His Royal Highness would appoint a day, which he promised to
do. This is what the Regent has promised my Lord Stair once every
week, for four or five months past, without any effect, and his
Excellency does not expect any more from the promise now, though
possibly a conference may be appointed for form sake. I have been here
near six months, and have seen only one conference, which was
appointed by my Lord Stanhope's desire. I think there had been two
conferences before I came; at the first of them the commissions were
read, and at the second my Lord Stair and Mr. Bladen gave in a
memorial about the limits of the Hudson's Bay Company, to which no
answer has been made. I must own that I never could expect much
success from this commission, since the French interests and ours are
so directly opposite, and our respective pretensions interfere so much
with each on the several points we were to treat about; but that the
French have not been willing to entertain us now and then with a
conference, and try how far we might be disposed to comply with a
conference, and try how far we might be disposed with any of the views
they had in desiring the commission, cannot, I should think be
accounted for, but by supposing they knew we came prepared to reject
all their demands, and to make very considerable ones for
ourselves.... I shall expect your further direction as to my stay or
return; I cannot help owning I heartily wish for the latter, but I
shall always submit to what His Majesty likes best, and shall only
desire in this case that I may have a supply from the treasury, since
I have not had the good fortune to be concerned in either of the
Misiseppis.




CHAPTER XVIII.

1719-1727.

     The South Sea Bubble -- Nation Catches the Fever of Speculation
     -- Strong Temptation for the Company -- Pricking of the Bubble
     -- Narrow Escape of the Adventurers -- Knight and his
     Expedition -- Anxiety as to their Fate -- Certainty of their
     Loss -- Burnet's Scheme to Cripple the French -- It Forces them
     Westward into Rupert's Land.


The cause of the Governor's recall lay in the existence of a crisis
which promised a happy issue. It arose through the venality of some of
the Company's directors, who were victims of the South Sea fever.

[Sidenote: South Sea Company.]

The South Sea Company, whose extraordinary success gave rise to a
thousand joint stock enterprises equally unsound and fatuous, owed its
origin to Harley, Earl of Oxford, in 1711, who in return for the
acceptance of a government debt of £10,000,000 granted to a number of
merchants a monopoly of the trade to the South Seas.

At that time the most extravagant ideas prevailed concerning the
riches of South America. "If," it was said, "the Hudson's Bay Company
can make vast moneys out of the frozen North, what can be done with
lands flowing with milk and honey?" The South Sea Adventurers
carefully fostered all the current notions, spreading likewise the
belief that Spain was ready to admit them to a share of its South
American commerce.

In 1717 this Company advanced to the English Government five more
millions sterling, at an interest of six per cent. Their shares rose
daily. Even the outbreak of war with Spain, which destroyed all hope
in the minds of sensible persons of any share in the Spanish traffic,
did not lessen the Company's popularity. In Paris, John Law's
Mississippi Bubble burst, ruining thousands, but, far from being
alarmed at this catastrophe, it was universally believed that Law's
scheme was sound, but had been wrecked through unwise methods. In May,
1720, the South Sea Company proposed to take upon themselves the
entire national debt of upwards of £30,000,000 upon a guarantee of
five per cent. per annum for seven and one-half years, at the end of
which period the debt might be redeemed if the Government chose, or
the interest reduced to four per cent. The nation was dazzled;
Parliament accepted the offer; and the Company's stock rose steadily
to 330 on April 7, falling to 290 on the following day.

[Sidenote: A fever of speculation.]

This day in April witnessed a change in methods on the part of the
South Sea directors. Until then the scheme had been honestly promoted;
but the prospect of enormous wealth was too near to be permitted to
escape. It became thenceforward, until the crash, the prime object of
the directors, at no matter what cost or scruple, to maintain the
fictitious value of the shares. By May 28, £100 shares were quoted at
550; three days later they had reached 890. The whole nation caught
the fever; the steadiest merchants turned gamblers. Hardly a day
passed without a new swindling concern being started as a joint stock
company.

Meanwhile several of the Hudson's Bay Merchants-Adventurers looked on
with envious eyes. The desire was great to embark in so tempting a
scheme, and the opportunity to cast inflated shares on the market
almost too great to withstand.

But for many weeks the temptation was resisted. At last, at a meeting
early in August, the chief director came before a general court of the
Adventurers with a scheme by which each partner could either retire
with a moderate fortune or remain an active participant, and reap the
benefit of an infusion of public capital.

The scheme was simplicity itself, to modern notions; but that it was
not so regarded by some of the Adventurers themselves may be gathered
from the following passage from a letter of Mrs. Mary Butterfield, one
of the owners of the Company's stock.

"I cannot tell you how it is to be done, for that passes my wit; but
in short, the value of our interests is to be trebled without our
paying a farthing; and then to be trebled again if the business is to
the publick taste, and we are told it cannot fail to be."

[Sidenote: Plan to reorganize the Company.]

It was late in August before the scheme was detailed. It was explained
that the Company's assets in quick and dead stock and lands were
£94,500. With this as a basis, it was proposed to enlarge the stock to
the sum of £378,000, dividing this into 3,780 shares of £100 each.
Before this could be carried out, however, the existing stock, being
but £31,500, or 315 shares, was to be made and reckoned 945 shares of
£100 value each. By such means a result of £94,500 actual capital
would appear. A majority of partners favoured the scheme, and the
proposal was carried amidst the greatest enthusiasm. Its purpose was
to unload the stock at an inflated figure, far even in excess of that
actually named by its promoters. Had it succeeded and the flotation
been carried out, it would have doubtless administered a death-blow to
the Company as then organized, and would probably have involved the
revocation of its charter in view of what was soon to occur. But the
plan met with a sudden arrest by an event which then happened, and
which in beggaring multitudes altered the whole disposition of the
public with regard to joint stock enterprises.

A general impression had gained ground that the South Sea Company's
stock had attained high-water mark, and so many holders rushed to
realize that the price fell, on June 3rd, to 640. The directors were
not yet ready for their _coup_. Agents were despatched by them to buy
up and support the market, and the result was that by nightfall of
that day the quoted price was £750. By means of this and similarly
unscrupulous devices, the shares were sent, early in August, to 1,000.
This was the long-awaited opportunity. Many of the directors sold out;
a general anxiety began to prevail and the shares began to drop. In
view of this change in affairs, the Hudson's Bay Company's meeting for
September 3rd was deferred. On the 12th, South Sea shares were selling
at 400, and the decline continued. The country was thrown into the
greatest excitement, and by the time December had arrived, Parliament
had been hastily summoned to consider the calamity.

With what happened subsequently, to the authors and participators in
this celebrated joint stock swindle, it is not my present purpose to
deal, except to say that the Hudson's Bay Company was saved in the
nick of time from sharing the fate of its neighbour and rival. A
meeting on the 23rd of December was held, at which it was resolved
that the "said subscription be vacated; and that the Company's seal be
taken off from the said instrument."

Nevertheless one permanent result remained. The capital had been
trebled, and it was now further resolved that each subscriber should
have £30 of stock "for each £10 by him paid in." This trebled, the
total capital stood, at the beginning of 1721, at £94,500.

The Company had had a narrow escape. To what extent its shares would
have been inflated may be conjectured; but it is certain that it could
not have avoided being swept into the vortex and sharing the same fate
which overtook so many of its commercial contemporaries. Its enemies
were on the watch, and they would have proved relentless. The
revocation of its charter would have accomplished its final downfall.
Already the Company was being assailed because it had not complied
with one of the provisions named in that instrument: that of making
search for a north-west passage.

It was not, however, to quiet these reproaches, so persistently
levelled at it, that a year before the bursting of the South Sea
Bubble an expedition was actually set on foot to accomplish the
long-deferred exploration.

Knight, the Company's aged Governor at York Factory, had long listened
to the tales of the Indians concerning the copper mines to the north;
and resolved, on his return to England, to bring the matter before the
Company. This he did, but it was by no means an easy matter to induce
the Adventurers to consent to the expense of further exploration.
Nevertheless Knight's insistence prevailed, more especially as,
besides the profitable results to be obtained through such a voyage,
he was careful to point out that the Company were expected by their
charter to undertake such an expedition.

[Sidenote: Expedition to explore the north-west passage.]

In 1719 the Company, therefore, fitted out two ships for the purpose
of discovery north of Churchill. One of these, called the _Albany_, a
frigate, was commanded by George Barlow, whom we have already seen as
Deputy-Governor at Albany in 1704, when the French failed to capture
that post. The other, named the _Discovery_, a sloop, under David
Vaughan. But the command of the expedition itself was entrusted to
Knight, who was a man of great experience in the Company's service,
who had been for many years Governor of different Factories in the
Bay, and who had made the first settlement at Churchill River.

Nevertheless, in spite of the experience Knight possessed of the
Company's business, and its methods of trade with the Indians, there
was nothing to lead any one to suppose him especially adapted for the
present enterprise, having nothing to direct him but the slender and
imperfect accounts which he, in common with many other of the
Company's servants had received from the Indians, who, as we have
seen, were at that time little known and less understood.

But these disadvantages, added to his advanced years, he being then
nearly eighty, by no means deterred his bold spirit. Indeed, so
confident was he of success and of the material advantages which would
accrue from his impending discoveries, that he caused to be made, and
carried with him, several large iron-bound chests, wherein to bestow
the gold dust and other treasures which he "fondly flattered himself
were to be found in those parts."

The first paragraph of the Company's instructions to Knight on this
occasion was as follows:--

          4th June, 1719.
     TO CAPTAIN JAMES KNIGHT.

     SIR,--From the experience we have had of your abilities in the
     management of our affairs, we have, upon your application to
     us, fitted out the _Albany_ frigate, Captain George Barlow, and
     the _Discovery_, Captain David Vaughan, Commander, upon a
     discovery to the northward; and to that end have given you
     power and authority to act and do all things relating to the
     said voyage, navigation of the said ship and sloop only
     excepted; and have given orders and instructions to our said
     Commanders for that purpose. You are, with the first
     opportunity of wind and weather, to depart from Gravesend on
     your intended voyage, and by God's permission to find out the
     Straits of Anian, and to discover gold and other valuable
     commodities to the northward.

Knight departed from Gravesend on board the _Albany_, and proceeded on
his voyage. The ships not returning to England that year no uneasiness
was felt, as it was judged they had wintered in the Bay. Besides, both
were known to have on board a plentiful stock of provisions, a house
in frame, together with the requisite tools and implements, and a
large assortment of trading goods. Little anxiety was therefore
entertained concerning their safety for fifteen months. But when New
Year's Day, 1721, arrived, and neither ship nor sloop had been heard
from, the Company became alarmed for their welfare.

By the ship sailing to Churchill in June they sent orders for a sloop
then in the Bay, called the _Whalebone_, John Scroggs, master, to go
in search of the missing explorers. But the _Whalebone_ was cruising
about in the north of the Bay at the time, on the Esquimaux trade, and
returned to Churchill at so advanced a season of the year as to defer
the execution of the Company's wishes until the following summer.

[Sidenote: Anxiety as to the fate of the expedition.]

The north-west coast was little known in those days, so it is not
singular that Scroggs, on board the little _Whalebone_, finding
himself encompassed by dangerous shoals and rocks, should return to
Prince of Wales' Fort little the wiser regarding the fate of the two
ships. He saw amongst the Esquimaux, it is true, European clothing and
articles, as in a later day Rae and McClintock found souvenirs of the
Franklin tragedy; but these might have been come by in trade, or even
as the result of an accident. None could affirm that a shipwreck or
other total calamity had overtaken Knight and his companions.

Many years elapsed without anything to shed light on the fate of this
expedition. At first, the strong belief which had so long prevailed
in Europe of a north-west passage by way of this Bay, caused many to
conjecture that the explorers had found that passage and had gone
through it into the South Sea. But before the voyages of Middleton,
Ellis, Bean, Christopher and Jobington had weakened this belief it was
known that Knight, Barlow and the crews of the two ships had been
lost. Proofs of their fate were found in the year 1767, as will appear
in a later chapter of this work.

An important circumstance now transpired which was not without effect
upon the Company's trade; and which, for a time, gave the Adventurers
great uneasiness.

In 1727 Burnett had been appointed to the Governorship of New York.
Finding that the French in Canada were in possession of all the Indian
fur-trade of the north and west, which was not in the Hudson's Bay
Company's hands, and that the New Englanders and Iroquois were
trafficking with the Iroquois, he determined to take a bold step with
a view to crippling the French.

[Sidenote: Attempt of New England to secure the fur-trade.]

It had long been understood that the chief support of New France was
in the fur commerce; and upon enquiry it was found that the traders,
of Quebec and Montreal, were chiefly supplied with European
merchandise for barter from the New York merchants, from whom they
procured it upon much easier terms than it could possibly be got from
France. With this knowledge, the Governor resolved to foster the
fur-trade of his colony by inducing direct transactions with the
Indians. He procured an Act in the Assembly of the colony, prohibiting
the trade in merchandise from New York. The colonial merchants were,
not unnaturally, up in arms against such a measure; but Burnett, bent
upon carrying his point, had their appeal to King George set aside and
the Act confirmed by that monarch.

  [Illustration: CONTEMPORARY FRENCH MAP OF THE BAY AND VICINITY.]

By this measure, trade at once sprang up with the Western Indians,
since the French had no goods to offer them in any way to their liking
at a reasonable price. Intercourse and familiarity ensued moreover in
consequence; a fortified trading post was built at Oswego, which not
only drew away trade from the French, at Michilimackinac and St.
Marie, but from Albany and Moose as well.

[Sidenote: Boundaries between French and English territory.]

It has been observed that the ancient boundaries of Canada or New
France were circumscribed by the Treaty of Utrecht, and that it is
difficult to determine precisely the new boundaries assigned to it.
The general interpretation adopted by the British geographers, as the
country gradually became better known from that time up to the final
cession of Canada, was that the boundary ran along the high lands
separating the waters that discharged into the St. Lawrence from those
that discharge into Hudson's Bay to the sources of the Nepigon River,
and thence along the northerly division of the same range of high
lands dividing the waters flowing direct to Hudson's Bay, from those
flowing into Lake Winnipeg, and crossing the Nelson, or (as it was
then known) the Bourbon River, about midway between the said Lake and
Bay, thence passing to the west and north by the sources of Churchill
River; no westerly boundary being anywhere assigned to Canada. This
and other measures could have but one result: to make the French
traders and the Government of New France perceive that their only hope
to avert famine and bankruptcy lay in penetrating farther and farther
into the west, in an effort to reach remote tribes, ignorant of true
values and unspoilt by a fierce and ungenerous rivalry.

It seems fitting to reserve the next chapter for a consideration of
who and what the tribes were at this time inhabiting the territories
granted by its charter to the Great Company; together with their
numbers, their modes of life and relations with the factories.




CHAPTER XIX.

1687-1712.

     Hudson's Bay Tribes Peaceful -- Effect of the Traders' Presence
     -- Depletion of Population -- The Crees and Assiniboines --
     Their Habits and Customs -- Their Numbers -- No Subordination
     Amongst Them -- Spirituous Liquors -- Effect of Intemperance
     upon the Indian.


Let us imagine for a moment that the Hudson's Bay Company had held
traffic with the fierce and implacable Iroquois, the Mohawks or the
courageous and blood-thirsty tribes of the Mississippi, instead of
with the Crees and Assiniboines. How different would have been its
early history! What frail protection would have been afforded by the
forts and wooden palisades, often not stronger than that last fort of
the Jesuits in the Huron country, the inmates of which were
slaughtered so ruthlessly, or that other at Niagara, where the
Chevalier de Troyes and ninety of his companions perished to a man.

But the Red men of the Company's territories, compared to these, were
pacific. Occasionally want or deep injustice drove them to acts of
barbarism, as we have seen in the case of the massacre at York Factory
under Jérémie's _régime_; but on the whole they had no marked enmity
to the white men, and long displayed a remarkable and extremely
welcome docility.

[Sidenote: Character of the Assiniboines.]

"The Assinibouels," remarked Jérémie, "are humane and affable; and so
are also all those Indians with whom we have commerce in the Bay,
never trading with the French but as their fathers and patrons.
Although savages, they are foes to lying, which is extraordinary in
nations which live without subordination or discipline. One cannot
impute to them any vice, unless they are a little too slanderous. They
never blaspheme and have not even a term in their language which
defines an oath."

If we are to believe the early traders and explorers, the Red man of
Rupert's Land spoke a tongue by no means difficult for an Englishman
to master. Yet if these same traders really took the trouble to master
it, as they alleged, their knowledge certainly brought little order
into the chaos of tribal nomenclature.

  [Illustration: INDIAN TEPEE.]

The custom of fantastic names for the Indians was long continued. More
than one instance occur of the impropriety with which the
French-Canadians named the Indians. They called one tribe Gros
Ventres, or Big Bellies, and that without any known reason; they being
as comely and well-made as any other tribe. "They are very far," says
one trader, "from being remarkable for their corpulency." This tribe
also came to be known as the Fall Indians.

[Sidenote: Indian country.]

Jérémie observed that the Ouinebigonnolinis inhabited the sea-coast.
The Poaourinagou country was inhabited by the Miskogonhirines or
Savannah, who made war with the Hakouchirmions. Twelve leagues above
York Factory was situated the River Oujuragatchousibi, while far
beyond dwelt the Nakonkirhirinons.

One might readily suspect one commandant of drawing upon his
imagination when he speaks of such nations as the Unighkillyiakow,
Ishisageck Roanu, the Twightwis Roanu, the Oskiakikis, Oyachtownuck
Roanu, Kighetawkigh Roanu, and the Kirhawguagh Roanu.

  [Illustration: AN ASSINIBOINE INDIAN.]

In the seventeenth century, the districts about the Great Lakes were
rather thickly populated. Certain regions which at the opening of the
eighteenth century were but thinly sprinkled by inhabitants, once had
boasted numerous tribes. For when the first missionaries visited the
south of Lake Superior in 1668, they found the country full of
inhabitants. They relate that, about this time, a band of Nepisingues,
converts to the Jesuitical teaching, emigrated to the Nepigon country.
By 1785 few of their descendants were said to exist, and not a trace
amongst them of the religion espoused by their ancestors.

As to the Lake of the Woods district, before the smallpox, in 1781,
ravaged this country and completed what the Nodwayes by their warfare
had gone far to accomplish, this part of the country was very densely
inhabited.

One of the Company's factors reported, in 1736, that a tribe lived
beyond the range of mountains, who had never known the use of
fire-arms, for which reason they were made slaves of by the
Assiniboines and Crees. He declared he had beheld several of this
tribe "who all wanted a joynt of their little finger, which was cut
off soon after birth."

"The Migichihilinons, that is the Eagle Ey'd Indians," reported
Middleton, one of the Company's captains, "are at two hundred Leagues
Distance; the Assinibouels inhabit the West and North; they are
reputed to be the same Nation because of the great affinity of their
language. The name signifies Men of the Rock. They use the Calumet and
live at two hundred and fifty Leagues Distance. They paint their
Bodies, are grave and have much Phlegm, like _Flemings_." He also
enumerates the Michinipic Poets, or Men of Stone, of the Great Lake;
but I am inclined to think these two are of the same tribe.

  [Illustration: INDIAN WITH TOMAHAWK.]

[Sidenote: The Crees.]

The Crees, or Christineaux, were the earliest as well as the most
numerous tribe which had dealings with the Company. They sprang from
the same stock as the Ojibways, Chippewas or Saulteurs, who with the
Assiniboines inhabited the vast interior of the country to the west of
the Bay. Their language, according to one of the early traders, was
less copious and expressive than their mother tongue. They were
deficient in many direct terms for things, often expressing themselves
in approximate phrases, whereas the Ojibways would have an exactly
corresponding term ready at command. The Crees appear not to have
possessed the custom of totems, so that it was often difficult for
members of the tribe to trace their ancestry back for more than two
or three generations.

[Sidenote: Their mode of living.]

In their ideas of creation the Crees and the Saulteurs resembled, and
the early traders and bushrangers learnt gradually that both nations
owned a mythology of no mean proportions. Nain au Bouchaw, the God of
the Saulteurs, was known as "Wee-sue-ha-jouch," amongst the Crees; but
the tales they told concerning him were by no means clear and
distinct, nor in such general currency. The Crees were divided into
two groups: those inhabiting the plains, and the denizens of the
woods; the latter being far the most enterprising and useful to the
trade of the Company. The tents of the Crees, like those of the other
tribes in Rupert's Land, were of dressed leather, erected by means of
poles, seventeen of which latter were required for the purpose, two
being tied together about three feet from the top. The whole formed
nearly a circle which was then covered with buffalo, moose, or red
deer skins, well sewn together, nicely cut to fit the conical figure
of the poles. An opening was then arranged above to let out the smoke,
and admit the light. Such tents were of good size, commonly measuring
twenty feet in diameter. A fire was kindled in the centre, around
which a range of stones was placed to keep the fire compact. The Crees
were fond of self-adornment, and were much addicted to false hair.
Their morals at first greatly shocked the servants of the Company, and
in the early reports sent home from York Factory much stress was laid
upon the need for enlightenment in this regard amongst the savages.
Polygamy was common, but not universal. The first wife was considered
as mistress of the tent, ruling all the others, often with a rod of
iron, and obliging them to perform all the drudgery.

The names of the children were always given to them by their parents,
or some near relative. Those of the boys were various, and generally
derived from some place, season or animal. The names of the female
children, amongst the northern Indians, were chiefly taken from some
part or property of a marten, such as the White Marten, the Black
Marten, the Summer Marten, the Marten's Head, the Marten's Foot, the
Marten's Heart, the Marten's Tail, etc.[53]

The exact number of Crees at the time of the Company's advent, is
difficult to compute. Even at that time they were dispersed over a
vast extent of country, mixing with the Assiniboines and other nations
with whom they were on terms of peace. In 1709 appeared an estimate
that there were not less than a million members of the Cree Nation.
From what source was derived this striking conclusion is not given.

It may be laid down as a general rule that all contemporary estimates
as to the population of the Indian tribes which were necessarily
founded upon hearsay prior to actual penetration into their country
are fanciful and totally unreliable. Perhaps the most significant fact
which Parkman brought home to the masses of his readers, was the
astounding discrepancy between current conception of the numbers of
the various tribes, particularly the Iroquois, and that attested and
corroborated by the acute research of scholars, and by the testimony
of contemporaries. In 1749 the Company thought the number of the Crees
to be about 100,000, men, women and children. A half century later
they had diminished to about 14,000, although, in 1810, Henry can find
only about 300 tents full of Crees capable of furnishing less than
1,000 men. In this calculation, however, he did not include the Crees
who lived north of Beaver River. The Crees were, for the most part,
quiet and inoffensive, and their personal appearance not entirely
prepossessing; and although compared with the wilder and more valiant
tribes to the south and east, their carriage and deportment was
inferior, still they were gifted with activity, and prominent, wiry
figures and intelligent countenances.

[Sidenote: The Assiniboines.]

The next numerous tribe was the Assiniboine, or Stone Indians, who it
is believed originated with the Sioux or Nodwayes. But owing to some
misunderstanding between the bands they separated, and some half
century before the first fort was built by the Company they were in
possession of a vast extent of prairie country near the Red River, and
thence running westward. The region they inhabited may be said to
commence at the Hare Hills, near Red River, and running along the
Assiniboine to the junction of the north and south branches of the
Saskatchewan. They were generally of a moderate stature, slender and
active. In complexion they were of a lighter copper colour than the
Crees, with more regular features. Moreover they were readily
distinguished from the latter by a different head-dress.

  [Illustration: ESQUIMAU WITH DOGS.]

Other tribes trading with the Company were the Sioux, Blackfeet,
Blood, Slave and Crow Indians. There were also the Esquimaux, with
whom a traffic in the north was carried on chiefly for whalebone,
ivory and oil.

"I have often," wrote Captain Coats, "thought this people of the
lineage of the Chinese, in the many features I see in them, their
bloated flatt faces, little eyes, black hair, little hands and feet,
and their listlessness in travelling. They are very fair, when free
from grease, very submissive to their men, very tender to their
children, and indefatigable in the geegaws to please their men and
children."

They owned no manner of government or subordination. The father or
head of the family obeyed no superior nor any command, and he himself
only gave his advice or opinions. Consequently it was rarely that any
great chief ever existed, and then only in time of war. It is true
that when several families went to war, or to the factories to trade,
they chose a leader, but to such a one obedience was only voluntary;
everyone was at liberty to leave when he pleased, and the notion of a
commander was soon obliterated.

Merit alone gave title to distinction; such merit as an experienced
hunter could boast, or one who possessed knowledge of communication
between lakes and rivers, who could make long harangues, was a
conjurer, or had a large family. Such a man was sure to be followed by
several Indians when they happened to be out in large parties. They
likewise followed him down to trade at the settlements, although upon
such occasions he was forced to secure their attendance by promises
and rewards, as the regard paid to his ability was of too weak a
nature to command subjection. In war a mutual resentment forced their
union for perpetrating vengeance.

The Hudson's Bay Indian's method of dividing time was by numbering the
nights elapsed or to come. Thus, if he were asked how long he had been
on his journey, he would answer, "so many nights." From the nocturnal
division he proceeded to lunar or monthly reckoning, twelve to a year,
all of these moons being symbolical of some remarkable event or
appearance.

Their method of computing numbers was abstruse, they reckoning chiefly
by decades: two-tens, three-tens, ten-tens. A few units over or under
were added or subtracted, thirty-two being three-tens and two over. If
they reckoned any large number a skin or stick was laid down for
every ten, and afterwards tied in a bundle for the aggregate.

[Sidenote: Intelligence of the Indians.]

The servants of the Company were not a little astonished at the
wonderful intuition of the Indian, which enabled him to forego the
advantage to be derived from a compass, and yet to rarely miss his
way. The trees, he knew, were all bent to the south, and the branches
on that side were larger and stronger than on the north, as was also
the moss. To apprise his women of the spot where the game was killed,
he broke off branches here and there, laying them in the path with
their ends pointed in the requisite direction.

In winter, when the braves went abroad they rubbed themselves all over
with bear's grease or beaver oil, treating in this fashion, too, the
furs they wore.

"They use," says one trader, "no milk from the time they are weaned,
and they all hate to taste Cheese, having taken up an opinion that it
was made of Dead Men's Fat." They were fond of prunes and raisins, and
would give a beaver skin for twelve of them to carry to their
children, and also for a Jew's-harp or a tin trumpet. They were great
admirers of pictures or prints, giving a beaver for bad prints, and
"all toys were jewels to them."

A trader at a little later period writes: "Having been fortunate
enough to administer medical relief to one of these Indians during
their stay, I came to be considered as a physician, and found that was
a character held in high veneration," and goes on to add that their
solicitude and credulity as to drugs and nostrums had exposed them to
gross deceptions on the part of the agents of the Hudson's Bay
Company. One of the chiefs informed him that he had been at the Bay
the year before and there purchased a quantity of medicines which he
would allow his visitor to inspect. Accordingly, he fetched a bag
containing numerous small papers, in which he found lumps of white
sugar, grains of coffee, pepper, allspice, cloves, tea, nutmegs,
ginger, and other things of the kind, sold as specifics against evil
spirits and against the dangers of battle. These compounds were said
to give power over enemies, particularly the white bear, of which the
Indians in those latitudes were much afraid; others were infallible
against barrenness in women, against difficult labour, and against a
variety of other afflictions.

[Sidenote: Superstition of the Indians.]

It is related that some Indians, who were employed in the vicinity of
York Factory in a goose hunt, were so influenced by superstition that
they firmly believed the devil, with hideous howlings, frequented
their tent every night. They came in a most dejected state to the
factory and related a lamentable tale to the Governor, setting forth
with much pathos, the distress they were being subjected to by his
Satanic majesty. So overcome were they that they kept large fires
burning all night, sleeping only in the day time. One of the Red men
declared that he had discharged his gun at the monster, but unluckily
missed. The devil was described as of human shape, with a capacity for
enormous strides. The governor treated the victims to a little brandy,
and as if by magic their courage rose. Investigation that same night
disclosed that the Satan was neither more nor less than a huge
night-owl.

The same trader also declares he found a number of small prints, such
as in England were commonly sold to children, but which amongst the
Indians were each transformed into a talisman for the cure of some
evil or for procuring some delight. He even gives the mottoes on some
of these, and their specific uses: No. 1--"A sailor kissing his
mistress on his return from sea." This worn about the person of a
gallant attracted, though concealed, the affections of the sex! No.
2--"A soldier in arms." Such a talisman poured a sentiment of valour
into its possessor and gave him the strength of a giant!

It was alleged that by means of such commodities many customers were
secured to the Company, nor is there reason to doubt it. "Even those
Indians who shortened their voyage by dealing with us, sent forward
one canoe laden with beaver-skins to purchase articles of this kind at
Cumberland House." Henry adds that he was wise enough not to dispute
their value.

As time went on the Indians began to relinquish many of the habits and
customs, and even the appearance they presented, before the advent of
the white traders. Being in constant communication with the factories,
they became semi-civilized, and took on many of the outer
characteristics of the European. They brought in year after year the
spoils of the chase in strict confidence, and there exchanged them for
the necessaries of life, which they no longer provided for themselves.
To all intents and purposes the tribes were in the pay of the Company,
or lived upon their bounty. It was, therefore, to be expected that all
originality would be lost amongst them.

The principal things necessary for the support and satisfaction of the
Indian and his family in the middle of the eighteenth century were: a
gun, hatchet, ice chisel, brazil fob, knives, files, flints, powder
and shot, a powder horn, a bayonet, a kettle, cloth, beads, etc.

It was early found that alcohol was a very dangerous element to
introduce amongst the savages. Talon had presented the unhappy colony
of New France with a statute removing all the penalties and ordinances
of which justice and the authorities had made use to repress the
disorders caused by the too great quantity of liquor given to the
Indians.

[Sidenote: Liking of the Indians for liquor.]

The inclination of the Indians for intoxication, it was pointed out to
Colbert by an ecclesiastic who sought to alter the condition of
affairs, is much stronger than that of the people of Europe. They
have, urged he, greater weakness in resisting it. "If in a bourgade
there be liquor freely accessible to the Indians, they usually all
become intoxicated--old, young, great and small, women and children,
so that there is hardly one left sober. If there were liquor
sufficient to last two days, drunkenness invariably continued two
days. If enough for a week, it would last a week; if for a month, it
would last a month. This," said the good priest, "is what we do not
see in Europe--a whole city get drunk, nor see it continue in that
state for weeks and months." It may readily be perceived that those
who wish to strike a bargain favourable to themselves with the
Indians, had only to resort to liquor, and by that means, without
regard to their own salvation or that of the savages, could generally
procure what they desired at a small expenditure.

An Indian, it was said early in the next century, would barter away
all his furs, nay even leave himself without a rag to cover his
nakedness, in exchange for that vile, unwholesome stuff called English
brandy.

The Company in England having decided not to employ liquor in its
traffic with the Indians, the temptation was strong upon Colbert and
the French to resort to it. At one of its meetings, in 1685, the
Company listened to a paper describing the methods in vogue by the
French traders at the important post of Tadoussac. At this fort or
factory, for more than twenty years previously, it was the custom to
allow an Indian a quart of wine; this fluid, although it boasted such
a title, hardly merited it. It was composed of one part of brandy to
five parts of water; a proportion which fluctuated, it is true, but
chiefly in respect of more water. To this more or less fiery liquid
was given at a little later date the name high wine; and high wine
figured largely in the dealings of both French and English with the
Indians for more than two centuries. If an Indian desired more than
the regulation quart, he was put off until another time. The necessary
moderation was thus secured, and the trade suffered no injury. Colbert
expressed himself as afraid that if the Quebec Company did not employ
liquor the Indians would carry their beavers to the Dutch. He need
not, however, have troubled himself with this apprehension, as it was
the Iroquois alone who could go there, and the French of Quebec did
small trade with this hostile nation. It was asserted that the French
would not lose five hundred skins a year by preserving the moderation
necessary for Christianity, and the good morality of the colony.

[Sidenote: Effect of intoxication on the Indians.]

Excess of liquor frequently made Europeans merry and gay; on the
Indian, however, it had a contrary effect. Under its influence he
recalled his departed friends and relations, lamenting their death
with abundance of tears. Should he be near their graves he would often
resort thither and weep there. Others would join the chorus in a song,
even though quite unable to hold up their heads. It was not uncommon
for them to roll about their tents in a fit of frenzy, frequently
falling into the blazing fire. Quarrelling then was common: an ancient
disagreement, long forgotten, being revived. The chiefs had often the
prudence, when matters were going this way, to order the women to
remove all offensive weapons out of the tent. But one weapon, very
effective, the teeth, still remained; and it was not unusual to see
several braves the next morning without a nose, an ear, or a finger.
In affrays such as these, no respect whatever was paid to the ties of
blood, brothers and sisters often fighting with great spirit and
animosity. At the conclusion of one of these encounters early in the
eighteenth century, an Indian entered York Factory one morning and
desired to be admitted to the surgeon. He was conducted to the
surgeon's room; he saluted its inmate in broken English, with "Look
here, man; here my nose," at the same time holding out his palm, which
contained half that desirable facial adjunct. This he desired the
surgeon, having a mighty opinion of the faculty, to restore. The man's
nephew had, it seems, bit it off; he declared he felt no pain, nor was
he sensible of his loss till awaking the next morning he found the
piece lying by his side.

FOOTNOTE:

[53] "Matonabbee," says Hearne, "had eight wives, and they were all
called Martens."




CHAPTER XX.

1685-1742.

     Errant Tribes of the Bay -- The Goose Hunt -- Assemblage at
     Lake Winnipeg -- Difficulties of the Voyage -- Arrival at the
     Fort -- Ceremony followed by Debauch -- Gifts to the Chief --
     He makes a Speech to the Governor -- Ceremony of the Pipe --
     Trading Begun.


The tribes to the west of the Bay led an erratic life. They were
without horses, and it was their custom never to remain above a
fortnight in one spot, unless they found plenty of game.

When they had encamped, and their lodges were built, they dispersed to
hunt, meeting in the evening when they had procured enough to maintain
them during the day. It was not their custom to travel more than three
or four miles from their lodges, but when scarcity of game was
encountered they would remove a league or two farther off. In this
fashion they traversed the whole forest region, hardly missing a
single day winter or summer, fair or foul, but always employed in some
kind of chase.

[Sidenote: The Indians as hunters.]

The Indians were ruthless slaughterers of animals at the earliest
period at which they were known to the servants of the Company.
Whether they happened to be under the pinch of necessity or enjoying
themselves in all the happiness of health and plenty, it was their
custom to slay all they could. They boasted a maxim that the "more
they killed, the more they had to kill." Such an opinion, although
opposed to reason and common sense, was clung to with great
pertinacity by them. The results of this indiscriminate slaughter were
obvious; and to such a pitch of destitution were the tribes often
brought that cannibalism was not infrequent amongst them.

The species of game, such as marten, squirrel and ermine, got by traps
and snares, were generally caught by the women and children. When the
men had slain their elks, deer, or buffalo, or foxes, they left it
where it fell, leaving the squaws to fetch it to the lodges the next
day, taking care to cut off the titbits or tender morsels, such as
tongues, for their own immediate pleasure.

  [Illustration: MODERN TYPE OF INDIAN.]

A great part of the factory provisions consisted of geese killed by
the Indians. For this purpose the factors supplied the latter with
powder and shot, allowing them the value of a beaver skin for every
ten geese killed. Accordingly, after the Indian had got his supply, he
set off from his tent early in the morning into the marshes, where he
sat himself down with great patience, difficult of imitation by the
Company's men, and there, sheltered by willows, waited for the geese.
These were shot flying, and so dexterous were the braves at this
sport that a good hunter would kill, in times of plenty, fifty or
sixty a day. Few Europeans were able to endure the cold, hunger and
adversity which often marked these excursions.

[Sidenote: Meeting at Lake Winnipeg.]

The nations coming from a distance to York Factory were wont to
assemble in May at Lake Winnipeg to the number of perhaps fifteen
hundred. The chief would then harangue the men, representing their
wants, and exhort the young men to exert themselves to the utmost to
reach the fort with all their skins and to secure good terms from the
white men. Each family then made a feast, in the course of which they
fixed upon those of their number who were to undertake the journey.
During the progress of the wassail which then reigned, it was
customary for speeches to be made, new alliances formed and old ones
strengthened. The morrow was spent in building the birch bark canoes,
in which the northern tribes had attained great proficiency; and being
at last ready for the voyage, the leaders of the expedition were
chosen, and all was ready to start.

It was never exactly ascertained how many actually participated in
these trading expeditions; the number was regulated by the
circumstance of the tribes being at peace or at war, and also whether
disease raged amongst them. It may be taken, roughly speaking, that
six hundred canoes containing one thousand persons, not counting
women, came down annually to York Factory, with furs to trade.

No regularity marked their voyage, each striving to be foremost,
because those proceeding first had the best chance of procuring food.
During the voyage each leader canvassed, with all manner of art and
diligence, for braves to join his party. Some were influenced by
presents, and others by promises, for the more canoes each petty
leader had under his command the greater he appeared at the factory.

[Sidenote: Difficulties of the journey.]

Throughout their progress the Indians were obliged to go ashore for
several hours daily, which caused great delay in their progress.
Their canoes were small, holding only two men and a pack of one
hundred beaver skins, with not much room for provisions. Had their
canoes been larger their voyages would undoubtedly have been less
protracted, and they would have been able to transport a greater
cargo. Often great numbers of skins were left behind.

A good hunter of these nations could kill six hundred beavers in the
course of a season; he could carry down to the factory rarely more
than one hundred, using the remainder at home in various ways.
Sometimes he hung them upon branches of trees by way of votive
offering upon the death of a child or near relation; often they were
utilized as bedding and bed coverings; occasionally the fur was burnt
off, and the beast roasted whole for food at banquets.

These annual journeys were beset by much hardship and suffering even
at the best of times.

The testimony of at least one Governor is significant. "While," said
he, "it is the duty of every one of the Company's servants to
encourage a spirit of industry among the natives, and to use every
means in their power to induce them to procure furs and other
commodities for trade ... at the same time, it must be confessed that
such conduct is by no means for the real benefit of the poor Indians;
it being well-known that those who have the least intercourse with the
factories, are by far the happiest.... It is true that there are few
Indians but have once in their lives, at least, visited the fort, and
the hardships and dangers which most of them experienced on those
occasions have left such a lasting impression on their minds, that
nothing can induce them to repeat their visits."

Arriving near their journey's end, they all put ashore; the women
going into the woods to gather pine-brush for the bottom of the tents,
while the leaders smoked together and arranged the procession to the
factory. This settled, they re-embarked, and soon after arrived before
the post of the Company; if there happened to be but one captain, his
situation was in the centre of all the canoes; if more than one, they
placed themselves at the wings, their canoes being distinguished by a
small flag hoisted on a stick and placed astern. Arriving within two
hundred yards of the palisade, they discharged their fowling pieces by
way of compliment to the Governor, who returned the salute by firing
off two or three small cannon. The men of the tribe seldom concerned
themselves with taking out the bundles, except occasionally when the
younger ones assisted the women.

  [Illustration: TYPE OF CREE INDIAN.]

[Sidenote: Arrival at the Fort.]

The factor being now informed that the Indians had arrived, the trader
was sent to introduce the leaders into the fort. Chairs were placed in
the trading-room for the visitors, and pipes introduced. During the
first part of the ceremony the leader puffed great clouds of smoke,
but said little; but the tobacco in the bowl becoming low, he began to
be more talkative. Fixing his eyes immovably on the ground, he
informed the factors how many canoes he had brought, and what tribes
he had seen; he enquired after the health of his hosts, and declared
he is glad to see them. When this speech was concluded the Governor
bade the chief and his party welcome, informing him that he had good
goods and plenty, that he loved the Indians, and they might count upon
his kindness to them. The pipe was then removed, and the conversation
became general.

During this visit the chief was dressed out at the Company's expense.
He was furnished with a coarse cloth coat, red or blue, lined with
baize, and white regimental cuffs; a waistcoat and breeches of baize.
This suit was ornamented with orris lace. He was likewise presented
with a white or checked cotton shirt, stockings of yarn, one red and
the other blue, and tied below the knee with worsted garters; his
moccasins were sometimes put on over these, but he as freely walked
away in bare feet. His hat was of coarse felt and bedecked with three
ostrich feathers, of various colours. A worsted sash was fastened to
its crown; a small silk handkerchief drawn about his neck, and thus
attired, the chief strutted up and down delighted.

His second in command also claimed attention. He was given a coat, but
not a lined one; a shirt and a cap such as was worn by sailors of the
period. The guests once equipped, bread and prunes were forthcoming
and set before the chief; and of these confections he took care to
fill his pockets before they were carried out. These were followed by
a two-gallon keg of brandy, pipes and tobacco for himself and
followers.

It was now high time to think of returning to the camp, but this exit
was not to be undertaken without further marks of the favour and
esteem with which the chief was held by the Company. His conduct from
the fort was effected in state. In front a halberd and ensign were
borne; next came a drummer beating a march, followed by several of the
factory servants bearing bread, prunes, pipes, tobacco, brandy, etc.
Behind these came the "King," "Captain," or chief, with stately tread,
and erect, smoking his pipe and conversing with the factors at his
side. Afterwards came the "Lieutenant," "Prince," relative or friend,
who had accompanied the chief.

The tent was found ready for their reception, strewn with clean pine
brush and beaver coats placed for them to sit. The brandy was
deposited on the ground, and the chief gave orders for its
distribution. After this the factor left, none too soon, however, for
all were soon plunged into a brutal state of intoxication. "It is
fifty to one," writes one trader, "but some one is killed before
morning. They give loose rein to every species of disorderly
tumult--all crying, fighting, and dancing."

About 1735, a party of Indians came down to trade, and the first day
of their arrival, as was their invariable custom, got vilely drunk.
While thus inebriated, they fought, not noisily, but silently, in the
darkness. When morning dawned, two corpses, in a fearful state of
mutilation, were found stretched on the ground in pools of blood.

[Sidenote: Ceremony of the pipe.]

After this debauch, which lasted about two or three days, the sobered
braves took to the calumet of peace. The stem of this pipe was three
or four feet long, decorated with pieces of lace, bears' claws,
eagles' talons, and the feathers of the most beautiful birds. The pipe
being affixed to the stem, the factor took it in both hands, and with
great gravity rose from his chair and pointed the end of the stem to
the east or sunrise, and then to the zenith, and to the west, and then
perpendicularly to the Nadir. After this he took three or four hearty
whiffs and then presented it to the chief, and so on round the whole
party, the women excepted. When the tobacco was consumed, the factor
took the pipe again and twirling it three times round his head, laid
it with great deliberation on the table. A great Ho! was thereupon
emitted from the mouths of the assemblage.[54]

This ceremony being over, a further gratuity of bread and prunes was
distributed, and the chief made a speech, which one trader has
reported, after this style.

  [Illustration: AN OLD CHIEF.
   (_From a Photograph._)]

"You told me last year to bring many Indians to trade, which I
promised to do. You see, I have not lied, here are many young men come
with me; use them kindly, I say; let them trade good goods, I say. We
lived hard last winter and were hungry; powder being short measure and
bad, I say. Tell your servants to fill the measure, and not put their
thumbs within the brim; take pity on us, take pity on us, I say.

"We paddle a long way to see you; we love the English. Let us trade
good black tobacco, moist and hard twisted; let us see it before it
is opened. Take pity on us, take pity on us, I say.

"The guns are bad, let us trade light guns, small in the hand and
well-shaped, and locks that will not freeze in the winter, and red
gun-cases. Let the young men have more than measure of tobacco, cheap
pattees, thick and high.

"Give us good measure of cloth; let us see the old measure. The young
men love you by coming so far to see you. Give them good goods; they
like to dress and be fine; do you see?"

As soon as the chief had finished the above speech, he, with his
followers, proceeded to examine the guns and tobacco; the former with
a most minute attention. This over, they traded with furs
promiscuously, the leader being so far indulged as to be admitted into
the trading-room all the time if he desired it.

[Sidenote: Varieties of beaver.]

The beaver thus received by the chief trader and stored at the factory
pending its shipment to England in the Company's ships, was classified
into eight varieties. The first was the fat winter beaver, slain in
winter, which was valued at five shillings and sixpence a pound. The
second sort was the fat summer beaver, worth two shillings and
ninepence. Next came in order the dry winter beaver, and the Bordeaux,
both worth three shillings and sixpence. The dry summer beaver, not
much valued, about one shilling and ninepence. Sixth came the coat
beaver, as it was called, which brought four shillings and sixpence.
The Muscovite, dry beaver of a fine skin, covered with a silky hair;
it was worn in Russia, where the short fur was combed away and
manufactured into fabric, leaving only the hair; this fetched four and
sixpence; and lastly on the list figured the Mittain beaver, which
were utilized in the manufacture of mittens, being worth one shilling
and ninepence.

It was reported that in the year 1742 the natives were so discouraged
in their trade with the Company that many found the peltry hardly
worth the carriage, and the finest furs sold for very little. When the
tribes came to the factory in June they found the goods much higher
in price, and much in excess of the standard they were accustomed to.
According to Joseph la France, a French-Canadian voyageur, they gave
but a pound of gunpowder for four beavers, a fathom of tobacco for
seven beavers, a pound of shot for one, an ell of coarse cloth for
fifteen, a blanket for twelve, two fish-hooks or three flints for one,
a gun for twenty-five, a pistol for ten; a common hat with white lace
cost seven beavers, an axe four, a bill-hook one, a gallon of brandy
four, a chequered shirt seven; "all of which sold at a monstrous
profit, even to two thousand per cent."

It was a fact, nevertheless, that notwithstanding such discouragement
the two expeditions of Indians who visited York and Churchill that
year brought down two hundred packs of one hundred each, that is to
say twenty thousand beaver skins. As to the other Indians who arrived
from another direction, they carried three hundred packs of one
hundred each, which made a total of fifty thousand beavers, besides
nine thousand martens.

FOOTNOTE:

[54] All this ceremony has a significance of its own. Interpreted, it
said: "Whilst the sun shall visit the different parts of the world and
make day and night; peace, firm friendship and brotherly love shall be
established between the English and the Indians, and the same on the
latter's part. By twirling the pipe over the head, it was further
intended to imply that all persons of the two nations, whosoever they
were, shall be included in the friendship and brotherhood, then
concluded or renewed."




CHAPTER XXI.

1725-1742.

     System of Licenses re-adopted by the French -- Verandrye sets
     out for the Pacific -- His son slain -- Disappointments -- He
     reaches the Rockies -- Death of Verandrye -- Forts in Rupert's
     Land -- Peter the Great and the Hudson's Bay Company --
     Expeditions of Bering -- A North-West Passage -- Opposition of
     the Company to its Discovery -- Dobbs and Middleton --
     Ludicrous distrust of the Explorer -- An Anonymous Letter.


It has already been observed how fearful had grown the demoralization
of the Indians, chiefly through the instrumentality and example of the
_coureur des bois_. This class seemed daily to grow more corrupt, and
bade fair to throw off the last vestige of restraint and become merged
in all the iniquity, natural and acquired, of the savage races. We
have seen, too, how the missionaries intervened, and implored the
civil authorities to institute some sort of reform. It was at their
solicitation that the Government of Canada at length decided to
re-adopt the system of licenses, and to grant the privileges of
exclusive trade to retired army officers, to each of whom they
accorded a certain fur-bearing district by way of recompense for
services rendered by him. In order that the trader might be protected
against hostile assault, permission was given to establish forts in
certain places suitable for their construction.

One of the French Canadian youth, whom the exploits of Iberville
against the Hudson's Bay Company had fired with a spirit of emulation
and who was head and shoulders above all that race of soldiers turned
fur-traders, who now began to spread themselves throughout the great
west--was Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verandrye.

[Sidenote: Sieur de Verandrye.]

This gallant soldier and intrepid explorer, to whose memory history
has as yet done but scant justice, was born at Three Rivers on the
17th of November, 1685. At an early age he embraced the profession of
arms, and at twenty-four fought so valorously against Marlborough's
forces at Malplaquet that, pierced by nine wounds, he was left for
dead upon the field of battle. Recovering, however, he returned to the
colony, and at twenty-seven married the daughter of the Seigneur
d'Isle Dupas, by whom he had four sons. These sons were all destined
to be associated with their father in the subsequent explorations in
Rupert's Land and the west.

At the hour when Verandrye was seized with his zeal for exploration
and discovery, the Company's rivals already possessed numerous posts
established by Iberville, Duluth, Frontenac and Denonville, and a host
of lesser lights, in the west. Of one of these, on the shores of Lake
Nepigon, at the extreme end of Lake Superior, Verandrye had been given
the command.

[Sidenote: Verandrye sets out to explore the West.]

While at this fort, a rumour had reached him of a mighty river flowing
into the great ocean. Credulous of the truth of this report, borne to
him by the Indians, Verandrye lost little time in communicating it to
a friend, Father de Gonor, at Michilimackinac. It was shortly
thereafter carried to Governor Beauharnois, who was induced, but not
without much pleading, to grant Verandrye fifty men and a missionary
for the purposes of exploration. But, although he had thus far
succeeded, the only pecuniary aid upon which the explorer could rely
was from the fur-trade. He was accordingly given a license to trade,
and on the strength of this concession, certain merchants advanced him
an outfit. He set out and arrived at Rainy Lake in September, 1731,
traversed it, and erected a fort near the site of the present Fort
Francis of a later day, to which he gave the name of St. Peter.

A year later he built another fort on the western shore of the Lake of
the Woods, and in 1733 paddled down to the mouth of the Winnipeg River
to the lake of that name. Crossing Lake Winnipeg, he ascended the
Assiniboine River and constructed Fort Rouge.[55]

In 1738 the explorer's three sons, under their sire's instructions,
made their way up the Assiniboine and built Fort la Reine, on the site
of the present Portage la Prairie.

Well may it be said that the five years from 1733 to 1738 were years
of cruel grief and disappointment for Verandrye. He had been
struggling on to a realization of his dream in spite of the bitterest
discouragements. One of his sons had been slain by the Sioux; he was
without funds; fur-trading being with him only a subsidiary
employment. His men lacking both courage and faith became
unmanageable, and Verandrye addressed the most affecting letters to
his monarch in France, who looked upon him and his schemes coldly.
Those merchants, who had advanced him money, loaded him with their
distrust, perpetually harassed him for returns, and loudly demanded
his recall, so that he was forced to stand still and engage in barter
when his whole soul cried aloud for him to press on in his path and
reach the Pacific.

[Sidenote: Verandrye's son reaches the Rockies.]

Verandrye divided his little party in the spring of 1742 and ascended
the Souris River. Those who came to be familiar with the territory in
a later day, when it was frequented by traders, might well appreciate
what were the perils these pioneers encountered, and what dangers they
escaped when they finally left the country of the peace--leaving
Ojibways at Red River, and struck off into the land of the Sioux, a
tribe then, from their ferocity to the whites, called the "tigers of
the plains." But they were to go still farther. Already the eldest son
of the explorer had reached the tribe of the Mandans in the Missouri,
but owing to inability to obtain guides his party had been forced to
return. He was again despatched by his father, this time in company
with the younger son, known as the Chevalier, and two other Frenchmen
into the unknown country to the west. This little band of four made a
journey of several hundred miles, entering into a league with one of
the nations into whose country they penetrated, to lead them to the
great Western Ocean. On the first day of January, 1743, they beheld,
the first amongst white men, the eastern spurs of the northern Rocky
Mountains. But here the Bow Indians, their guides, deserted them, and
surrounded by hostile tribes, the party was forced to return. It was
in this same year that the elder Verandrye, scarred and gaunt from his
long wanderings in the wilderness, presented himself at Quebec to
confront his enemies and traducers. They had represented as making an
enormous fortune and leading an idle life, he who could point proudly
to having taken possession of the country of the Upper Missouri for
Lewis XV., and who had built a score and more of forts in the unknown
regions of the West.

"If 40,000 livres of debt that I have over my head," said Verandrye
bitterly, "are an advantage, then I can compliment myself on being
very rich, and I would have been much more so in the end, if I had
continued."

His license was given to another who, however, made a poor showing by
means of it, and it was not until Beauharnois's successor investigated
Verandrye's claims that the explorer received some recognition at
court. He was given a captaincy and the Cross of St. Lewis.

But the explorer had not waited for this. He had been pushing on in
his work, and in 1748 ascended the Saskatchewan. The progress of the
French was marked by more forts, one in Lake Dauphin and another
called Bourbon at the extremity of his discoveries. Verandrye was
about to cross the Rocky Mountains when death overtook him, on the 6th
of December, 1749.

The sons of Verandrye were eager to continue his work and attain at
last the Pacific. But Bigot, the Intendant, was not their friend; he
had other plans, and the Verandryes were deposed by favourites with
not half their ability or their claims to honours and rewards. But
they had paved the way and now the French were reaping the profits of
the fur-trade in the North-West on a great scale.

[Sidenote: Verandrye's work.]

Thus were successively established, from 1731 to 1748, by Verandrye
and his sons, Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake; Fort St. Charles on the
Lake of the Woods; Fort Maurepas near the mouth of the Winnipeg; Fort
Dauphin, on the north-west extremity of Lake Manitoba; Fort la Reine,
on the southern extremity of the last-named lake; Fort Rouge, at the
confluence of the Assiniboine and Red River; Fort Bourbon, at the head
of Lake Winnipeg; Fort Poskoyae, on the Saskatchewan, and Fort Lacerne
(Nipawi), at the forks of the said river.

In 1752, some years prior to the conquest of Canada, a relative of
Verandrye, named Niverville, established Fort Jonquiere at the foot of
the mountains.[56] Which of all these forts were to pass, after many
vicissitudes, into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, we shall see
in the course of subsequent pages. Verandrye and his compeers chose
their sites with great care and ability; so that it was rarely that
their successors were able to improve upon them. On the foundations or
charred remnants of the French forts, should the structures themselves
have perished, the English fur-traders, when they came, reared anew
their posts.

While thus the French were pressing forward from the south and east at
the same moment, a new rivalry threatened to spring up in the far
north-west.

[Sidenote: Russia looks toward the New World.]

The eighteenth century broke upon an abated zeal of the Spaniards in
extending their discoveries and dominions in the New World. Almost
contemporaneously, the threads they threw down were grasped by another
power, which the zeal and energy of one man had suddenly transformed
from a collection of savage, barbarous tribes into a great nation.
Having achieved conquest over his neighbours and the cohesion of his
new empire, Peter the Great turned his attention to a hardly inferior
task. None knew as yet whether the two great continents, Asia and
North America, united on the north-east. During Peter's residence in
England, not the least of the institutions interesting him was the
Hudson's Bay Company. A letter from Peter is quoted by a Russian
writer, in which he alludes to the English rivalry for these trades
"which had so long been the monopoly of Muscovy fur-hunting and
fur-gathering." Doubtless even at this time he was speculating upon
the chances of Russia competing with England for the fur traffic of
the New World. But before such a competition could be brought about
the question of the geographical connection between Asia and America
must be settled. When he had been in Holland in 1717, he had been
urged by some of the most eminent patrons of discovery amongst the
Dutch to institute an expedition of investigation. But again other
matters intervened; although in 1727 two Russian officers were
equipped and in readiness to start overland when they were recalled
for service in Sweden.

Not until he was on his death-bed did Czar Peter pen with his own hand
the instructions to Admiral Aproxin which bore fruit later. It was
then, too, that the idea, according to Lestkof, was discussed of a
Russian Fur Company, similar in its methods and organization to the
Hudson's Bay Company.

Peter directed first that one or two boats with decks should be built
at Kamschatka, or in the vicinity; that with these a survey should be
made of the most northerly coasts of his Asiatic Empire, to determine
whether they were or were not contiguous to America. Also that the
persons to whom the expedition might be entrusted should endeavour to
ascertain whether there was any port in those regions belonging to
Europe, and to keep a strict look-out for any European ship, taking
care also to employ some skilful men in making enquiries regarding the
names and situation of the coasts which they discovered. They were to
keep an exact journal and to transmit it to St. Petersburg.

Peter died, but the Empress Catherine, his successor, was equally
favourable to the scheme, and gave orders to fit out the expedition.
To Captain Vitus Bering was entrusted the command. Under him were two
lieutenants, Martin Spangberg and Alexi Tchirikoff; and besides other
subalterns were several excellent ship-carpenters.

  [Illustration: MALDONADO'S "STRAIT OF ANIAN," 1609.]

On February 5, 1735, they set out from St. Petersburg, and on March 16
arrived at Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia.

[Sidenote: Bering's discoveries.]

Bering returned from his first voyage satisfied that he had reached
the utmost limits of Asia, and that no junction with America existed.
Some years elapsed, and in 1741 Bering, Spangberg and Tchirikoff again
volunteered. This expedition was destined to prove fatal to the
explorer; he got lost in a fog, intense cold prevailed, scurvy broke
out amongst the men, and on a little island in Bering's Sea he
breathed his last.

  [Illustration: LAPIE'S MAP, 1821.]

Although many years were to elapse before the Russians took any more
active steps, they had, by virtue of Bering's discoveries, got a
footing on the North American Continent, and were thus already
neighbours, if not yet rivals, of the Hudson's Bay Company.

"It is very evident," wrote one of the contemporary chroniclers, "that
for upwards of two centuries and a half an opinion has prevailed
amongst the most knowing and experienced persons, that there is a
passage to the north-west, and this built partly upon science, partly
upon tradition. Now, it is very hard to conceive how such an opinion
should maintain its credit if it was not founded in reality; for it is
an old and true maxim that specious opinions endure but a short time,
whereas truth is everlasting."

For many years the notion of a north-west passage had slept; but in
1737 it again attracted public attention. In that year Arthur Dobbs, a
gentleman of some means and of scientific bent, made formal
application to the Hudson's Bay Company that a search be undertaken.
Upon his representations the Company sent forth two of their ships
upon the quest. These, the _Churchill_ and the _Musquash_ went,
however, no farther north than latitude 62° 15' and returned without
seeing anything worthy of notice, save "a number of small islands,
abundance of black whales, but no very great tides, the highest about
two fathoms, the flood coming from the northward."

There had been for a great many years in the Company's employ an able
mariner, Captain Christopher Middleton. For some reason or other
Middleton had become dissatisfied with their service and one of his
friends placed him in communication with the patron of discovery,
Dobbs, and a close correspondence ensued.[57]

Dobbs was eager to employ Middleton in a search for the long-sought
straits. This was by no means an easy matter. In the first place the
Company flatly declined to participate in the scheme, alleging that
they had already done enough in that direction[58] and that the whole
idea was a fallacy.

There was no north-west passage to India, and the sooner the public
mind divested itself of the folly of supposing one existed the better
it would be for the public purse and the public wisdom.

The Company pointed out that if Middleton should winter at either of
the Company's factories it might drive the natives to trade with the
French, who were always on the alert; and trade so lost would never
return or be regained. They begged the Admiralty to restrain Captain
Middleton from interfering with the Company's trade and invading their
property and rights.

Dobbs, however, secured from the Admiralty for Middleton's use the
bomb ketch _Furnace_, which, with another small vessel, the _Welcome_,
was ready to sail early in June.

[Sidenote: The Company opposes further exploration.]

So opposed do the Company appear to have their domains meddled with by
these fruitless explorations that they sent out a letter to their
Governor at Churchill, which was the most convenient harbour for the
explorers to winter in, not to receive Middleton into their fort.
Dobbs and his friends getting wind of this, complained to the
Admiralty, who wrote to the Honourable Adventurers in a tone of
decided reproof, observing that even if Middleton were to receive
assistance and provisions, payment would be made for these to the
Company on the return of the expedition to England.

After deliberating for some time, the Company thereupon wrote to the
Lords of the Admiralty, saying that they had sent a further letter to
Governor Norton requiring him to extend the necessary hospitality to
Middleton. That the sort of hospitality the Company was prepared to
dispense was not of too warm a character may be adjudged from the
following:

               HUDSON'S BAY HOUSE, LONDON, May 15, 1741.

     _Mr. James Isham and Council_,
          _Prince of Wales' Fort, Churchill River_:

     GENTLEMEN,--Notwithstanding our orders to you, if Captain
     Middleton (who is sent abroad in the Government's service to
     discover a passage north-west) should by inevitable necessity
     be brought into real distress and danger of his life and loss
     of his ship, in such case you are then to give him the best
     assistance and relief you can.

A duplicate of this was put in Middleton's possession, who still
dissatisfied, rushed off instantly with it to Whitehall. It was deemed
necessary to apply to the Lords of the Regency that the Secretary of
State might, by their orders, write to the Company to request the
assistance they refused to the Admiralty. The Company, thus hemmed in,
gave a letter couched in a more friendly style.

"It is plain," remarks a contemporary writer, "that the Company
believe there is a passage, which they want to conceal; for otherwise
it would have been their interest to have the attempt made. If not
found there would have been an end to prosecuting it any further, and
they might probably have enjoyed their trade to the Bay, without its
being coveted or enquired into."

Middleton owned to Dobbs that just before his departure the Company
had endeavoured to bribe him with an offer of £5,000 to return to
their service, or that if he was determined to go, to pursue the
voyage by Davis' Straits, or by any other way than the west of the
Bay. They alleged that it would cost the Company that amount to
support their right against the Crown and against private adventurers,
and that "as he had been their friend, and knew all their concerns, it
would be better to give him that sum than to give it to their
lawyers." The Company did not deny that such an offer had been made by
two or three of the committee privately.

[Sidenote: Middleton explores for a north-west passage.]

Middleton now proceeded on his journey in quest of the famed
north-west passage. It is charged that on his arrival in the Bay he
never once went ashore or sent his boat to search for any inlet or to
try the tide. He tried the current in latitude 63° 20', and found it
very rapid, in spite of the fact that there existed a great deal of
ice to the northward. Its presence compelled him to stand off from
shore until he passed Cape Dobbs, beyond which he found an opening
northwestward. In this opening he sought shelter for three weeks.

[Sidenote: Trouble between Middleton and his men.]

No voyage of discovery since the world began was ever made under such
circumstances. Numerous members of the crew, who had got wind of the
situation, were filled, or professed to be filled, with distrust of
their captain. Caring nothing about the voyage itself or the object
for which it was undertaken, they entered with zeal a hundred times a
day into plots to make the commander's life unbearable. The supposed
passage was christened the "Forbidden Straits," and the crews vastly
amused themselves with Middleton's supposed discomfiture. Several were
very nearly yard-armed for spreading reports that the captain had
purposely sailed past the straits. Sometimes the captain merely
laughed at the views of his subordinates; at other times, it is said,
he flew into a temper, and indulged in threats and abuse. Once, when
from the number of whales and the breadth and depth of the river, word
sped from mouth to mouth that it was a strait they were in, and no
river, "he rated several of them for pretending to say so against his
opinion, saying his clerk was a double-tongued rascal, that he would
cane the lieutenant, broomstick the master, and lash any others who
would concern themselves about the voyage." It was, moreover, charged
against Middleton that he interdicted the keeping of private journals,
and that if any disobeyed this order he threatened to break open their
boxes and get possession of such records. Once when the lieutenants
and masters were absent down the river to look for a cove for the
ships, Middleton grimly observed that he supposed the former would
bring back "some romantick account of a strait or passage."
Nevertheless, for his part, he would not take the ships a foot
farther. Intrigue characterized the whole of this voyage of discovery.

The officers of both the _Furnace_ and the _Discovery_ took turns in
making jaunts into the country. On the 8th of August, Captain
Middleton, the clerk, gunner, and carpenter went ashore at Cape
Frigid, and after pacing some fifteen miles into the country,
returned, to find the ship drifted, although it lacked some hours of
high water. Rankin and the men on board from this had become convinced
that it was the effects of the flood from the supposed strait. The
captain laughed them to scorn, and said that if it came from any
strait at all it was Hudson's Strait.

Two northern Indians were taken on board the _Discovery_, and
Thompson, the surgeon, who could speak some of the southern tongue,
began busying himself making a vocabulary of their language. At this
innocent occupation he was observed by Middleton, who threatened to
"crop him" in case he persisted. When they reached Marble Island,
although the two Indians were desirous of going to England, he put the
pair ashore in a bad boat they were ignorant of how to manage. The
supplications of the unhappy savages were useless to turn the
Company's captain from his purpose. In vain they told him that the
island was three leagues from the mainland, and a hundred miles from
their own country; that it was inhabited by the Esquimaux, their
enemies.

"The Captain gave them some provisions, ammunition, hatchets and
toys. The excuse he made for not bringing them to England was, that
upon his return his friends might be out of the Admiralty, and as he
had no orders to take them home, they would be left a charge upon
him." This was plausible, but Middleton's detractors did not rest
there. They accused the captain of saying that he was afraid the
Indians, when they learned to speak English, would be talking of the
copper mine and the north-west passage, and would thereby put the
public to the expense of sending out more ships in quest of it. "And
this, no doubt," commented Dobbs, "was the true reason for that piece
of cruelty, for he thought if they came to England he should _not be
able to conceal the passage_."

On Middleton's return, after his quest, he was accused of saying, "My
character is so well established as a discoverer that no man will
ever, hereafter, attempt to discover the north-west passage."

[Sidenote: Middleton returns without discovering the passage.]

He certainly received a cordial invitation from the Government, the
Admiralty and the Court. Immediately upon his arrival in London he
communicated with several of the partners of the Hudson's Bay Company.
The preparation of his journal occupied for a time his leisure. "He
himself," says Dobbs, "had got great reputation from the Royal Society
for his observations upon cold; and for what he had discovered had got
a medal from them. He was upon good terms with the Lords of the
Admiralty, and was to dedicate his charts and discoveries to the King
and noblemen of the first rank as well as to the Lords of the
Admiralty." That the Lords of the Admiralty were perfectly satisfied
with his conduct, there is every reason to believe, as in the
following year Middleton was placed in command of the _Shark_, a
sloop. All this naturally put him into a position to serve those under
him. All his recommendations for promotion only strengthened the
suspicions gathering in the mind of Dobbs and his fellow-patrons. "He
had recommended also his lieutenant, and thought none other on board
had weight enough to impeach his proceedings, which, if they failed
in, would ruin their characters; so that securing his officers, he
thought all things would be safe amongst the crew. But Middleton was
not one to forget the patron and prime mover of the expedition, whom
he endeavoured to propitiate by sending him an abstract of his
journal. This abstract seemed, to Dobbs, to be so full of
contradictions and discrepancies, that he wrote to the explorer to
send him, if possible, the journal itself. He had scarcely dispatched
this communication when he received a letter from Lanrick, "a
gentleman who had been bred a scholar," who had accompanied Middleton
on the voyage. It was substantially the same account rendered by the
captain, with this added paragraph:

"Sir,--This account I should have sent you before now but that the
Captain, for reasons to himself best known, desired that none of us
should say anything about it relating to the discovery for a little."

This very natural desire on the part of an explorer, about to become
an author, seems to have been fraught with deep and incriminating
significance to Dobbs. After a short time the whole of Middleton's
journal reached him; it appeared to confirm all Dobbs's presentiments.

[Sidenote: Suspicion attaches to Middleton.]

Dobbs and the other patrons were therefore convinced that Middleton
had played them false for the Hudson's Bay Company; and their belief
in a north-west passage was strengthened rather than weakened. In
their report, after going over the whole account of the voyage
furnished them, they were especially severe upon Middleton. "His whole
conduct," they said, "from his going to Churchill until his return to
England, and even since his return, it will appear plainly that he
intended to serve the Company at the public expense, and contrived
everything so as to stifle the discovery, and to prevent others from
undertaking it for the future so as to secure the favour of the
Company and the reward they said they promised him before he began the
voyage."

An informer appeared, who testified that Middleton had declared in
presence of the others at a council held at York Factory, Churchill,
that he "should be able to make the voyage, but none on board should
be any the wiser and he would be a better friend to the Company than
ever."

Middleton was charged in public with neglect in having failed to
explore the line of coast which afforded a probability of a passage to
the north-west. The principal points at issue appear to have been in
respect to the discovery by Middleton, of the Wager River, Repulse
Bay, and the Frozen Strait. In this century Sir Edward Parry has
remarked: "The accuracy of Captain Middleton is manifest upon the
point most strenuously argued against him, for our subsequent
experience has not left the smallest doubt of Repulse Bay and the
northern part of the Welcome being filled by a rapid tide flowing into
it from the eastward through the Frozen Strait." Dobbs, fully
impressed with a conviction that the captain's story of the Frozen
Strait was all chimera, as well as everything Middleton had said
concerning that part of the voyage, confidently insisted on the
probability of the tide finding its way through Wager River, or at
least through some arm of the sea communicating with that inlet from
the westward.[59]

One detail only was lacking to render the situation farcical--an
anonymous letter. This reached Dobbs on the 21st of January, and ran
in this absurd vein:--

     "This script is only open to your Eyes, which have been sealed
     or closed with too much (we cannot say Cunning) Artifice, so as
     they have not been able to discover our Discoverer's Pranks.
     All Nature cries aloud that there is a Passage, and we are sure
     there is one from Hudson's Bay to Japan. Send a letter directed
     to Messieurs Brook and Cobham, who are Gentlemen who have been
     the Voyage, and cannot bear so Glorious an Attempt, should die
     under the Hands of Mercenary Wretches, and they will give you
     such pungent reasons as will awaken all your Industry. They
     desire it may be kept secret so long as they shall think fit;
     they are willing to venture their Lives, their Fortunes, their
     All, in another attempt; and they are no inconsiderable
     persons, but such as have had it much at heart ever since they
     saw the Rapidity of Tides in the Welcome. The frozen straits is
     all Chimera, and everything you have yet read or seen
     concerning that part of our Voyage, We shall send you some
     unanswerable Queries. Direct for us at the Chapter Coffee
     House, St Paul's Churchyard, London."

It was now clear that Middleton's voyage had been made in vain, and
that another would shortly be attempted.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] This fort has been thought to have been in the neighbourhood of
Selkirk, Manitoba. But Verandrye would not have abandoned such an
advantageous position as that which the meeting of the two rivers
afforded at the modern Winnipeg.

[56] On the site of Fort Jonquiere, a century later, Captain
Brisebois, of the Mounted Police, founded a post bearing his name.
This post has given way to-day to the well-built and thriving town of
Calgary.

[57] In one of his letters, dated 21st of January, 1737, Middleton
held that the Company thought it their interest rather to prevent than
forward new discoveries in that part of the world. "For that reason
they won't suffer any of our journals to be made public," he adds.
Than which certainly no observation could be truer.

[58] A LIST OF VESSELS FITTED OUT BY THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY ON
DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.

     1719--_Albany Frigate_, Capt. George Barlow, sailed from England
             on or about 5th June. Never returned.
           _Discovery_, Capt. David Vaughan, sailed from England on or
             about 5th June. Never returned.

     1719--_Prosperous_, Capt Henry Kelsey, sailed from York Fort, June
             19th. Returned 10th August following.
           _Success_, John Hancock, master, sailed from Prince of Wales'
             Fort, July 2nd. Returned 10th August.

     1721--_Prosperous_, Capt. Henry Kelsey, sailed from York Fort,
             June 26th. Returned 2nd Sept.
           _Success_, James Napper, master, sailed from York Fort, June
             26th. Lost 30th of same month.

     1721--_Whalebone_, John Scroggs, master, sailed from Gravesend,
             31st May; wintered at Prince of Wales' Fort.

     1722--Sailed from thence 21st June. Returned July 25th following.

     1737--_The Churchill_, James Napper, master, sailed from Prince of
             Wales' Fort, July 7th. Died 8th August; and the vessel
             returned the 18th.
           _The Musquash_, Robert Crow, master, sailed from Prince of
             Wales' Fort, July 7th. Returned 22nd August.


[59] "On looking through the correspondence at the Admiralty, it is
impossible not to be struck with the straightforward manliness,
candour and honesty of purpose exemplified by Captain Middleton
throughout this trying business. It was a cruel attack."--Sir John
Barrow.




CHAPTER XXII.

1744-1748.

     War again with France -- Company takes Measures to Defend its
     Forts and Property -- "Keep your guns loaded" -- Prince
     "Charlie" -- His Stock in the Company Confiscated -- Further
     Instructions to the Chief Factors -- Another Expedition to
     Search for a North-West Passage -- Parliament Offers Twenty
     Thousand Pounds Reward -- Cavalier Treatment from Governor
     Norton -- Expedition Returns -- Dobbs' Enmity -- Privy Council
     Refuse to Grant his Petition -- Press-gang Outrages -- Voyage
     of the _Seahorse_.


[Sidenote: War with France.]

In the year 1740 the state of affairs in Europe seemed to point to war
between England and France. England had declared war against Spain,
and although for a time Lewis XV. and his ministers sympathized with
the latter country, they endeavoured to avoid being drawn into a
conflict with her powerful neighbour and hereditary enemy across the
Channel. Yet such a conflict seemed inevitable, when by degrees
Spanish commerce became shattered under the blows of King George's
navy. Apprehensive that England would wrest from Spain her colonies,
France resolved to take sides with Spain. In 1744 war was declared,
and hostilities, which had been in abeyance for thirty-one years, at
once recommenced in the transatlantic possessions of both crowns.

It was therefore decided at a general court of the Adventurers, at
which no fewer than seventy were present, to take measures to avoid a
repetition of the disasters of fifty years previously. They felt that
their enemies were now many, who would be glad to see them driven from
the Bay, and that less assistance might be expected from the
Government than at any of the crises which had previously overtaken
them. We have seen to what this was due. It now behooved the Company
to gird up its loins, and if the foe came, to strike, and strike with
force.

It was the Hudson's Bay Company against France and Spain. The incident
of Louisburg alone saved the Company from destruction.

To illustrate the temper of the Company instructions were immediately
drawn up by the Committee, and despatched to the chief factors in the
Bay. The one addressed to Joseph Isbister and Council at Albany Fort
was dated the 10th of May, 1744.

"The English and French having declared war," it ran, "against each
other, and the war with Spain still continuing, we do hereby strictly
direct you to be always on your guard, and to keep a good watch, and
that you keep all your men as near home as possible.

[Sidenote: Bellicose instructions from the Company.]

"We do also direct that you fix your cannon in the most proper places
to defend yourselves and annoy an enemy, after which you are to fire
each cannon once with powder to see how they prove, and instruct your
men to the use of them without firing; and that you keep them
constantly loaded with powder and ball, ready for service. You are
also to keep your small arms loaded and in good order and at hand, to
be easily come at; and that those loaded arms be drawn or discharged
once a month, and be well cleaned; and you are to exercise your men
once a week till they are well disciplined and afterwards once a
month. And you are also to keep a sufficient number of your trading
guns loaded and at hand in case of an attack; and if there be any
Indians that you can confide in, and will be of service in your
defence, we recommend it to you to employ them in such manner as you
think proper.

"We have wrote to the factory at Moose River, that in case they have
any intelligence of the French coming down that river to attack them,
they are immediately to send you notice thereof, that you may make the
necessary preparations for your defence, and that there be a constant
correspondence and intelligence between each factory for the safety of
both.

"As we rely on the courage and conduct of Mr. Isbister, our chief, in
case of an attack from the enemy, which, if done at all on your
factory, we apprehend it will be by land in the winter, from Canada;
in which case the enemy not being able to bring down any cannon with
them, we doubt not of your frustrating their designs and repulsing
them.

"In case you are attacked at Henly House, and notwithstanding a
vigorous resistance you should have the misfortune to be overpowered,
then you are to nail up the cannon, blow up the House, and destroy
everything that can be of service to the enemy, and make the best
retreat you can to the factory." The letters to the other Governors
were in similar strain.

The Company directed Isbister to get "the best information you can
from the trading Indians, whether the French are making any
preparations to come down to the factory, or have lodged any
provisions, stores or ammunition at certain distances from their
supply. We also direct you, for your better security, at all times to
keep two Indians in the factory with civil and kind usage, and send
them out every morning for intelligence, to a proper distance, so that
they may return in the evening; and provided that they do not return
that it be an alarm to you, and that you thereupon prepare yourselves
for a vigorous defence. But," it was added, "you must not, upon any
consideration, let those Indians have the least knowledge of the use
you intend to make of their not returning."

[Sidenote: Letters of marque to the Company's ships.]

At the Company's urgent request letters of marque were granted to the
_Prince Rupert_ against both France and Spain. The _Prince Rupert_ was
one hundred and eighty tons burthen, and the crews were full of
expectation that the voyage would yield them a prize of some sort or
another. But they were destined not merely to be disappointed, but to
be given a great fright into the bargain. When in the neighbourhood of
Davis' Straits, where a whale fishery was established, several large
vessels were sighted. They seemed to the Company's captain undoubtedly
French men-of-war. Filled with fear, he immediately turned round in
his tracks and bore away as fast as his sails could carry him, and
after beating about for a time managed to pass through the straits
unobserved. So convinced were the Company on the return of its ship in
the autumn that the French were lying in wait for its ships at the
straits, they sought the Admiralty with a request for a convoy to York
Fort, to return with its vessels the following autumn.

A convoy was granted, but it was hardly necessary. Louisburg had
fallen, and all the strength the French could muster was being
directed in an attempt to win back that fortress from the English. No
French ships could therefore be spared to cruise north of latitude
fifty in North America.

[Sidenote: Confiscation of Prince Charlie's stock.]

One consequence of the war with France was a revival of the hopes of
the Jacobites. In 1744 Charles Edward, the grandson of James II., was
placed by Lewis in command of "a formidable armament," and in the
following year the young Pretender placed his foot on a little island
of the Hebrides, where for three weeks he stood almost alone. But the
Highland blood was fired; the clans rallied to the standard of "Prince
Charlie," and when he began his march on Edinburgh, several thousand
Scottish zealots had rallied to his standard. "James the Eighth" was
proclaimed at the Town Cross of the capital, and when his troops and
the English regiments met at Preston Pans, in September, the latter
were defeated with heavy loss. But although this victory swelled his
numbers it did not bring the Lowlanders and English to fight for him.
"Hardly a man," we are told, "had risen in his support as he passed
through the districts where Jacobitism boasted of its strength. The
people flocked to see his march as if it had been a show. Catholics
and Tories abounded in Lancashire, but only a single squire took up
arms." The knell of Jacobitism was rung, and after a brief success the
English forces fell upon Prince Charles Edward at Culloden Moor, and
cut his little army to pieces. Fifty of his followers and adherents in
England ascended the scaffold; Lords Lovat, Balmerino and Kilmarnock
were beheaded, and over forty noblemen and gentlemen were attainted by
Act of Parliament. Scarcely a month had elapsed from Charles Edward's
escape to France after his romantic adventures, when a motion was
submitted to the Governor and Company of Adventurers in England
trading into Hudson's Bay, ordering the confiscation of the stock held
by the heir of the second Governor of the Company, King James II. The
exiled monarch had never relinquished his share, and under the name of
"John Stanion" the dividends had always reached him. But the Jacobite
rising affected his fellow-adventurers' complaisance, and by 1746
"John Stanion" had ceased to figure as an active partner of the
Company.[60]

Under date of 3rd of May, 1745, the Company wrote to Governor Isbister
and Council, at Albany Fort, to say that they had "augmented the
complement of men (as you desired) at your Factory and Moose Fort,
that in case of need you may assist each other, and thereby we hope
you will be enabled to baffle the designs of the enemy.

"We do direct," it pursued, "that not only a continual correspondence
be kept between you and Moose Fort, but that you correspond with the
Factory at Slude River, York Fort, and Prince of Wales' Fort as often
as you can, and if under any apprehensions of an attack, to give
immediate notice to Moose Fort. We still recommend your diligence in
getting intelligence and information of the designs of the French."

[Sidenote: Further instructions to Company's officials.]

It also urged Governor Pilgrim and Council, at Prince of Wales' Fort,
"to keep a good watch, and your men near home, except those that are
guarding the battery at Cape Merry, but not to hinder a proper number
to be employed in providing a sufficient quantity of the country
provisions to prevent the complaint of those persons that murmur for
want of victuals; and we recommend sobriety, that you may be capable
of making a vigorous defence if attacked.

"We again recommend your keeping the land, round the Fort and the
Battery at Cape Merry, free from everything that may possibly
conceal or shelter an enemy, that you may thereby prevent being
surprised.

"We again direct that you keep up a general correspondence with all
the Factories, and get what intelligence you can of the designs of the
French."

  [Illustration: PLANS OF YORK AND PRINCE OF WALES' FORTS.]

The course of events now bids us return to Dobbs and the renewed
endeavours to find a north-west passage through the Company's
territory.

A number of public-spirited persons came forward for the prosecution
of the design. Parliament was urged to act in the matter, and a bill
was carried, offering a reward of twenty thousand pounds for the
discovery of the north-west passage.

[Sidenote: Parliament and the North-West passage.]

"Whereas," ran the Act, "the discovering of a north-west passage
through Hudson's Straits, to the Western American Ocean, will be of
great Benefit and advantage to the trade of this Kingdom; and whereas
it will be a great encouragement to Adventurers to attempt the same,
if a public reward was given to such person or persons as shall make a
perfect discovery of the said passage: May it therefore please your
Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's Most
Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that if any ship or
vessel, ships or vessels belonging to any of his Majesty's subjects,
shall find out and sail through any passage by sea between Hudson's
Bay and the Western and Southern Ocean of America, the owner or owners
of such ship or ships, vessel or vessels as aforesaid, so first
finding out and sailing through the said passage, his or their
executors, administrators or assigns shall be entitled to receive and
shall receive as a reward for such discovery, the sum of twenty
thousand pounds."

Parliament took care, however, to declare that nothing in the Act
should "in any ways extend or be construed to take away or prejudice
any of the estates, rights or privileges of or belonging to the
Governor and Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay."

With such encouragement, it was not long before a North-West
Association was formed for the raising of £10,000, which sum it was
thought would answer the necessary expense of the proposed expedition.
The ships bought by the Committee were one of one hundred and eighty
tons, called the _Dobbs' Galley_, and another of one hundred and forty
tons, to which the name of the _California_ was given. Each of these
vessels was got ready, and a sufficient quantity of stores and
provisions put on board. A cargo of merchandise, suitable for presents
to the natives was put on board, after assurance to the Hudson's Bay
Company that these would not be used for purpose of barter. The
command of the _Dobbs' Galley_ was entrusted to Captain William Moor,
an old servant of the Company; that of the _California_ being given to
Francis Smith. By way of encouragement, premiums were settled on
officers and crew, in case of success. Thus the captain was to have
£500, each of the mates £200, and every other officer and seaman a
reward suitable to his station. Over and above all this, in case they
were so fortunate as to take any prizes, such were to belong entirely
to them.

[Sidenote: Expedition of the North-West Association.]

On the 10th of May the expedition started. In order that they might
get safely beyond the British Isles without danger from the French
privateersmen, the Admiralty appointed a convoy to meet them at the
Island of Pomona, in the Orkneys. Judge of their surprise to find this
convoy commanded by Captain Middleton himself, on board the _Shark_.
Some days later the explorer of 1742 and the explorers of 1746 bade
farewell to one another.

For some months the ships cruised about the Bay. At last, in
September, it was decided to set about preparations for wintering in
some part of Hays' River. This they found in a creek about five miles
above York Factory, on the south side of the stream. The locality was,
perhaps, hardly congenial in a social sense.

[Sidenote: Governor Norton.]

"The Governor," says one who accompanied the expedition as the agent
of the patrons,[61] "being now convinced of our intentions to winter
there, used his utmost endeavours that we might lay our ships below
the fort, in a place open to the sea, where they would have been in
all probability beat to pieces, either from the waves of the sea
setting in or the breaking of the ice; but as his arguments were of no
efficacy in persuading us, and finding himself disappointed in this,
as in his former scheme, being still resolved to distress us as much
as possible, he sent most of the Indians, whose chief employment is to
kill deer, geese, etc., into the country, on purpose that we might not
make use of them in that way, or be in any wise benefited by their
means."

  [Illustration: CONTEMPORARY MAP SHOWING THE HAYS' RIVER.]

The charge that Governor Norton desired the destruction of the ships
is too absurd to refute at this late day; nevertheless there is
little doubt that the explorers believed it, and anything else their
inflamed imaginations and prejudices against the Company suggested.
Even when Norton designed to show them kindness, the design was
twisted into one of sinister shape. For instance, hearing that their
supply of liquor was short, when Christmas came around, he sent as a
present to the explorers, at the little log-house they had christened
Montague House, a couple of casks of brandy with which to make good
cheer. Soon afterwards scurvy broke out, and the disease was set down
immediately to the brandy. "Our people had been healthy enough
before," says Ellis.

But even when the scurvy had carried off several of the men at
Montague House, Governor Norton was alleged to have refused both to
succour or to suggest a remedy. "The Indians were charged not to come
near us, or to furnish us with anything (and this out of consideration
for them), because we had a contagious distemper amongst us." Norton's
sole view in all his actions is represented to have been to hinder and
distress the explorers, "which," remarks the writer quoted,
philosophically, "is the encouragement that all are to expect who go
in search of a north-west passage _from such neighbours_."

When spring came the expedition resumed its labours. It is said the
crews were full of alacrity and cheerfulness. One honest seaman,
"whose sole delight was a delicious dram," was so enthusiastic over
the discovery that "in the warm sincerity of his heart he could not
help saying, with a good, round oath, 'Now, I had rather find the
north-west passage than half an anchor of brandy!'"

[Sidenote: Return of the expedition to England.]

The summer was spent in coasting the whole north-west side of the Bay.
But, alas, the north-west passage so ardently and characteristically
desired by the "honest sea-man," was not found, and by the 14th of
October the expedition was back again in England, after an absence of
one year four months and seventeen days. The explorers and the patrons
might well have been discouraged from further attempts, albeit they
returned, we are told, "with clearer and fuller proofs, founded on
plain facts and accurate experiments, that such a passage existed."
Nevertheless, if the Company breathed easier on their return, it was a
temporary relief. A new trial was in store for the Honourable
Adventurers.

In 1748, war still continuing with France and Spain, the Company again
issued strict orders to Governor Spence at Albany Fort to be always on
his guard, and "to keep a good watch and your men near home, but not
to hinder a proper number to be employed in providing a sufficient
quantity of the country provisions, particularly geese, which we find
you constantly employ the Indians only to kill for you, and which we
are dissatisfied with; that being such a material article, you ought
always to blend some of your people with the natives in the goose
seasons, that they may understand how to kill them, and thereby lessen
your dependence on the native hunters."

To the Governor of Prince of Wales' Fort it directed that he should
"constantly keep his great guns loaded with powder and ball ready for
service during the time the rivers are open. You are also to keep your
small arms loaded and in good order, and at hand, to be easily come
at, which loaded arms and cannon are to be drawn once a month and well
cleaned, and to exercise your men as often as requisite, whom we
expect by this time are artists, not only in the use of small arms but
also of cannon, that the great expense we have been at in this
particular may answer the end proposed thereby in case of an attack.
You are also to keep a sufficient number of your trading guns loaded
and at hand, which charges are also to be drawn every month, and if
there be any Indians you can confide in, and will be of service to you
in your defence, we recommend it to you to employ them in such manner
as you think proper."

Certainly if a French commander of even Iberville's power had appeared
before the forts of the Company in 1748 he would have met with a far
different reception to that which was offered to that champion in
1697.

The Company suffered much from the press-gangs, from time to time, and
in eras of war the evil was almost intolerable. It was well-known that
the sailors in its employ were amongst the ablest and hardiest on the
high seas, which fact exposed them perpetually to the onslaughts of
the crimps and bullies.

In 1739 the Company's vessel, the _Seahorse_, was intercepted by the
man-of-war _Warwick_, and seventeen men of the _Seahorse_ crew
captured by the press-gang for services in the navy.

That the _Seahorse_ might not be totally without servants, a number of
incompetent landsmen were put aboard in their stead. Nevertheless, the
voyage was continued to the Bay, although not without great peril, not
arriving until 27th of September. The voyage of the disabled
_Seahorse_ was long a tradition in the Company's service.

[Sidenote: Dobb's petition rejected by a Parliamentary committee.]

By an Order-in-Council dated the 4th of February, 1748, a petition
from Arthur Dobbs and members of a committee appointed by the
subscribers for finding out a passage to the Western and Southern
Ocean of America, "was referred to the consideration of a committee of
Parliament." After hearing counsel for and against the Company, this
committee of two members decided that "considering how long the
Company have enjoyed and acted under this charter without 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."
Dobbs and his friends were enraged at this decision, and lost no time
in taking other steps.

FOOTNOTES:

[60] The name of John Stanion certainly appears in the list of
proprietors of Hudson's Bay stock, published in 1749, but it is
followed by the significant term _deceased_.

[61] Henry Ellis.




CHAPTER XXIII.

1748-1760.

     Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry Appointed -- Aim of the
     Malcontents -- Lord Strange's Report -- Testimony of Witnesses
     -- French Competition -- Lords of Plantations desire to
     Ascertain Limits of Company's Territory -- Defeat of the
     Labrador Company -- Wolfe's Victory -- "Locked up in the Strong
     Box" -- Company's Forts -- Clandestine Trade -- Case of Captain
     Coats.


[Sidenote: Parliamentary enquiry.]

"Mr. Sharpe, the Company's solicitor," we read in the Company's
minute-books, under date of March 10th, 1748, "attending the Committee
acquainted them that a motion was yesterday made and carried in the
House of Commons to enquire into the state and condition of the
countries and trade of Hudson's Bay, and also the right the Company
pretend to have by charter to the property of the land, and exclusive
trade to those countries, and that a committee was appointed
accordingly."

The Adventurers were not caught entirely unawares. They had expected
some such move on the part of their opponents, and now determined that
since they could not ward off the enquiry, they would take the best
means to present the most favourable statement of the Company's case
to the nation. A ransacking of books and records ensued; and a
rigorous search after facts bearing on the beneficent character of the
Company's rule and policy; and these proofs being at length ready,
were placed by the following December in the form of a memorial in the
hands of every member of the House of Commons.

The enquiry aroused the greatest national interest. It began soon
after Christmas, 1748, and lasted for two months.

[Sidenote: Plea of the malcontents.]

What the malcontents desired is, perhaps, best explained in the words
of their prime mover: "By opening," said he, "the trade in the Bay,
many thousands more would be employed in trade, and a much greater
vent would be opened for our manufactures. Whereas all the gain we
have at present, whilst the trade is confined to the Company, is the
employment of one hundred and twenty men in all their factories, and
two or three ships in that trade, manned with perhaps one hundred and
twenty men in time of war, to enrich nine or ten[62] merchants at
their country's expense; at the same time betraying the nation, by
allowing the French to encroach upon us at the bottom of the Bay,
having given up by that means the greatest part of their trade there
to the French. It is, therefore, humbly submitted to the Government,
whether it is not just, as well as prudent, to open that trade to all
the British merchants, and resume at the same time the charter, so far
as to take from them all those lands they have not reclaimed or
occupied after seventy years possession, leaving them only their
factories, and such lands as they have reclaimed adjoining to them;
and to give grants as usual in other colonies to all who shall go over
to trade and make settlements in the country; for no grants were ever
intended to be made to them, to enable them to prevent other subjects
of Britain from planting colonies in those countries, which they
themselves would not plant or occupy; for such a power, instead of
being beneficial, would be the greatest prejudice to Britain, and is
become a general law in the colonies, that those who take grants of
land and don't plant them in a reasonable, limited time, forfeit their
rights to those lands, and a new grant is made out to such others as
shall plant and improve them; and if this grant be not immediately
resumed so far and the trade laid open, and some force be not sent to
secure our southern possessions in the Bay by the Government in case
there should be a French war, we shall see the French immediately
dispossess the Company of all their factories but Churchill, and all
these countries and that trade will be in the possession of the
French." So ran the argument of the Company's enemies.

On the 24th of April, 1749, Lord Strange presented, on behalf of the
Select Committee, the report to Parliament.

"The Committee," said he, "appointed to enquire into the state and
condition of the countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay and the trade
carried on there; and to consider how those countries may be settled
and improved, and the trade and fisheries there extended and
increased; and also to enquire into the right the Company of
Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay pretend to have, by charter, to
the property of lands and exclusive trade to those countries; have
pursuant to the order of the House, examined into the several matters
to them referred.

"Your Committee thought proper, in the first place, to enquire into
the nature and extent of the charter granted by King Charles the
Second, to the Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay; under
which charter the present Company claim as right to lands and an
exclusive trade to those countries; which charter being laid before
your Committee, they thought it necessary for the information of the
House to annex a copy thereof to this report."

The charter, published now for the first time, was deemed to be valid.

[Sidenote: Witnesses called by the committee.]

The Committee had examined the witnesses in the case. These witnesses
were: Joseph Robson, who had been employed in the Bay for six years as
a stonemason; Richard White, who had been a clerk at Albany Fort and
elsewhere; Matthew Sargeant, who had been employed in the Company's
service and "understood the Indian language"; John Hayter, who had
been house carpenter to the Company for six years at Moose River;
Matthew Gwynne, who had been twice at Hudson's Bay; Edward Thompson,
who had been three years at Moose River as surgeon; Enoch Alsop, who
had been armourer to the Company at Moose River; Christopher
Bannister, who had been armourer and gunsmith, and had resided in the
Bay for twenty-two years; Robert Griffin, silversmith, who had been
five years in the Company's service; Thomas Barnet Smith, who went
over to Albany in 1741; Alexander Brown, who had been six years at
Hudson's Bay as surgeon; Captain Thomas Mitchell, who had commanded a
sloop of the Company.

Besides the above witnesses there was, of course, Dobbs himself, who
was "examined as to the information he had received from a
French-Canadese Indian (since deceased) who was maintained at the
expense of the Admiralty, on the prospect of his being of service on
the discovery of a north-west passage." Dobbs "informed your Committee
that the whole of that discourse is contained in part of a book
printed for the witness in 1744, to which he desired leave to
refer."[63] There also appeared Captain William Moor, who had been
employed in Hudson's Bay from a boy; Henry Spurling, merchant, who had
traded in furs for twenty-eight years past, during which time he had
dealt with the Hudson's Bay Company; Captain Carruthers, who had been
in the Company's service thirty-five years ago; and Arthur Slater, who
had been employed by the Company on the East Main.

The opposition endeavoured to show that one object aimed at in
granting a charter to the Hudson's Bay Company was to further the
discovery of the north-west passage. This of course was absurd. It was
charged that they had done almost nothing in this direction, which the
Adventurers on their part rebutted by furnishing Parliament with a
list of the ships they had fitted out for such a discovery.

In the evidence before the Committee, it became clear that the
witnesses were not unanimous, especially concerning the probability of
finding a north-west passage.

[Sidenote: Evidence as to a north-west passage.]

The evidence of Edward Thompson, the ship surgeon on the _Furnace_,
for example, states that he has the "greatest reason to believe there
is one, from the winds, tides and black whales; and he thinks the
place to be at Chesterfield Inlet; that the reason of their coming
back was they met the other boat which had been five leagues farther,
and the crew told them the water was much fresher and shallower
there, but where he was the water was fifty fathoms deep, and the tide
very strong; the ebb six hours and the flood two, to the best of his
remembrance; that it is not common for the tide to flow only two
hours." He imagined it to be obstructed by another tide from the
westward. The rapidity of the tide upwards was so great that the spray
of the water flew over the bow of the schooner, and was "so salt that
it candied on the men's shoes, but the tide did not run in so rapid a
manner the other way." Captain William Moor, being asked if he
believed there was a north-west passage to the South Seas, said he
believed there was a communication, but "whether navigable or not he
cannot say; that if there is any such communication, 'tis farther
northward than he expected; that if it is but short, as 'tis but
probable to conclude from the height of the tides, 'tis possible it
might be navigable. It was the opinion of all the persons sent on that
discovery that a north-west wind made the highest tides." According to
Captain Carruthers, "he don't apprehend there is any such passage; but
if there is, he thinks it impracticable to navigate it on account of
the ice; that he would rather choose to go round by Cape Horn; and
that it will be impossible to go and return through such passage in
one year; and he thinks 'tis the general opinion of seamen, that there
is no such passage." In which opinion the seamen were in the right,
although Dobbs and his friends were long to hold the contrary.

John Tomlinson, a London merchant, testified that he was a subscriber
to "the undertaking for finding a north-west passage, which
undertaking was dropped for want of money; that he should not choose
to subscribe again on the same terms; that he can not pretend to say
whether there is such a passage or not, or whether, if found, it could
ever be rendered useful to navigation."

It was only to be expected that the merchants, having no share in the
Company's profits, should be, to a man, in favour of throwing open the
trade of Hudson's Bay. Tomlinson, for example, gave it out as his
opinion that if the charter were revoked more ships would be sent and
more Indians brought down to trade. "This is confirmed," said he, "by
the experience of the Guinea trade, which, when confined to a company,
employed not above ten ships, and now employs one hundred and fifty."
He moreover asserted that "the case of the Guinea trade was exactly
similar, where the ships are near one another, and each endeavours to
get the trade; and the more ships lie there the higher the prices of
negroes."

[Sidenote: The Company's profits.]

The Company was obliged, in the course of this enquiry, to divulge a
number of facts relating to its trade, which had until then remained
secret. Parliament was informed that the trade between London and
Hudson's Bay was carried on in 1748, and for some years previous, by
means of four ships; that the cost of the exports was in that year
£5,012 12s. 3d.; that the value of the sales of furs and other imports
amounted to £30,160 5s. 11d. As for the "charge attending the carrying
on of the Hudson's Bay trade, and maintaining their factories," it
was, in 1748, £17,352 4s. 10d. Thus a trade which involved only £5,000
a year in exports brought back a return of £30,000. Even when the
outlay for working and maintenance of forts and establishments was
considered, there was, in dull times, a profit of forty per cent on
actual paid-up capital.

With regard to French competition, many of the witnesses were most
emphatic. Robson, for instance, "thought that the beavers which are
brought down to the Company are refused by the French from their being
a heavy commodity; for the natives who come to trade with the Company
dispose of their small, valuable furs to the French, and bring down
their heavy goods to the Company in summer when the rivers are open,
which they sell, and supply the French with European goods purchased
from the Company."

"The French," said Richard White, another witness, "intercept the
Indians coming down with their trade," he having seen them with guns
and clothing of French manufacture; and further an Indian had told him
that there was a French settlement up Moose River, something to the
southward of the west, at the distance, as the witness apprehended,
of about fifty miles. "The French deal in light furs, and take all of
that sort they can get, and the Indians bring the heavy to us.
Sometimes the Indians bring down martens' skins, but that is when they
don't meet with the French; but never knew any Indians who had met the
French bring down light furs. The French settlement on Moose River is
at Abbitibi Lake. The trade," concluded the witness, "might be further
extended by sending up Europeans to winter amongst the natives, which,
though the Company have not lately attempted, the French actually do."

"The French," said another, "intercept the trade; to prevent which the
Company some time ago built Henley House,[64] which did, in some
measure, answer the purpose: but if they would build farther in the
country it would have a better effect. The French went there first,
and are better beloved; but if we would go up into the country the
French Indians would trade with us."

[Sidenote: French encroachment on trade.]

Another of the witnesses testified that he "has been informed by the
Indians that the French-Canadese Indians come within six score miles
of the English factories. The French Indians come to Albany to trade
for their heavy goods." He said he had heard Governor Norton say that
the "French ran away with our trade." "If," continued this witness,
Alexander Brown, "the trade was opened, the French would not intercept
the Indians, since in that case the separate traders must have
out-factories in the same manner the French have, which the Company
have not." Upon being asked by Lord Strange if "in case those
out-settlements were erected, whether the same trade could be carried
on at the present settlements?" the witness replied that "it would be
impossible, but that the trade would be extended, and by that means
they would take it from the French. That if these settlements were
near the French, they must have garrisons to secure them against the
French, and the Indians who trade with and are in friendship with
them (whom he distinguished by the name of French Indians)."

Brown quoted Norton as saying, in the year 1739, "that the French had
a settlement at about the distance of one hundred or six score miles
from Churchill, which had been built about a year, and contained sixty
men with small arms."

The result of the deliberations of the Committee of Enquiry was, on
the whole, favourable to the Company. The charter was pronounced
unassailable, and the Company had made out a good case against its
enemies. It had certainly permitted the encroachments of the French.
But the English Government of the day foresaw that French possession
of Canada was doomed, and the Company could make ample amends when the
British flag was unfurled at Quebec and at Montreal.

The Company having come out of the ordeal unharmed,[65] the Lords of
Trade and Plantations thought it might as well settle in its own mind
the precise territory claimed by the Company under its charter. The
Company, on its part, was not forgetful that the French Government had
not yet paid its little bill, which having been running for over sixty
years, had now assumed comparatively gigantic proportions.

[Sidenote: The Government asks the Company to define its territory.]

Accordingly the Lords of Trade and Plantations, on the 25th of July,
1750, addressed a letter to the Company, representing that "as it was
for the benefit of the plantations that the limits or boundaries of
the British Colonies on the Continent of America should be distinctly
known, more particularly as they border on the settlements made by the
French, or any foreign nation in America, their Lordships desired as
exact an account as possible of the limits and boundaries of the
territory granted to the Company, together with a chart or map
thereof, and all the best accounts and vouchers they can obtain to
support the same, and particularly, if any, or what settlements have
been made by the English on the frontiers towards the lakes, and if
any, or what encroachments have been made, and at what period, and to
be exact in stating every particular in the history of whatever
encroachments have been made, which may serve to place the proceedings
in a true light, and confute any right which may at any time be
founded upon them."

[Sidenote: Company's reply.]

The Company replied, among other things, that the said Straits and
Bays "are now so well known, that it is apprehended they stand in no
need of any particular description than by the chart or map herewith
delivered; and the limits or boundaries of the lands and countries
lying round the same, comprised, as your memorialists conceive, in the
same grant, are as follows, that is to say: all the lands lying on the
east side or coast of the said Bay, and extending from the Bay
eastward to the Atlantic Ocean and Davis' Strait, and the line
hereafter mentioned as the east and south-eastern boundaries of the
said Company's territories; and towards the north, all the lands that
lie at the north end, or on the north side or coast of the said Bay,
and extending from the Bay northwards to the utmost limits of the
lands; then towards the North Pole; but where or how these lands
terminate is hitherto unknown. And towards the west, all the lands
that lie on the west side or coast of the said Bay, and extending from
the said Bay westward to the utmost limits of those lands; but where
or how these lands terminate to the westward is also unknown, though
probably it will be found they terminate on the Great South Sea, and
towards the south," they propose the line already set out by them,
before and soon after the Treaty of Utrecht, stating that the
Commissioners under that treaty were never able to bring the
settlement of the said limits to a final conclusion; but they urged
that the limits of the territories granted to them, and of the places
appertaining to the French, should be settled upon the footing above
mentioned.

The Treaty of Utrecht stipulated that the French King should restore
to Great Britain in full right forever, Hudson's Bay, the Straits, and
all lands, rivers, coasts, etc., there situate. Further, that the
Hudson's Bay Company be repaid their losses by French hostile
incursions and depredations in time of peace.

The Hudson's Bay Company now went farther and asked the Government to
insist that no French vessel should be allowed to pass to the north or
north-west of a line drawn from Grimington's Island and Cape Perdrix.

One of the most feasible plans of the Company's foes seemed to be to
get hold of some adjacent territory, and from that vantage ground
gradually encroach on the chartered preserves. Such seems to have been
the scheme in July, 1752, when a petition was presented to the Lords
of Trade and Plantations, from "several London Merchants," who sought
a grant of "all that part of America lying on the Atlantic Ocean on
the east part, extending south and north from 52° north latitude from
the equinoctial line to 60° of the same north latitude, called
Labradore or New Britain, not at this time possessed by any of his
Majesty's subjects or the subjects of any Christian prince or state."

On the receipt of this petition by the Government, the Hudson's Bay
Company was called upon to say whether it laid claim to this tract. In
their reply the Honourable Adventurers referred to the grant of
Charles II. of all rights to trade and commerce of those seas, etc.,
within entrance of Hudson's Straits, and of all lands on the coasts
and confines thereof; Labrador throughout its whole extent, from 60°
north latitude to 52°, was therefore alleged to be within their
limits.

The Company was already settled there, and had spent £10,000 on it.
Moreover, declared the Company, it was a barren land, with few beavers
or other furs of value.

The Company suggested that the "London Merchants'" aim was to gain a
footing and draw off the Hudson's Bay Company's trade, which it hoped
would not be permitted. This hope of the Adventurers was realized, for
the petition of the London Merchants was not allowed.[66]

France's fatal hour with respect to her sovereignty over Canada
rapidly approached. In December, 1759, the Company wrote as follows to
the Lords of Plantations:--

     In prospect of an approaching Treaty of Peace between this
     nation and France, and in the hope that the great success his
     Majesty's arms have been blessed with, and the many
     acquisitions that have been thereby gained from the enemy, will
     enable his Majesty to secure to your memorialists satisfaction
     for the injuries and depredations they have long since suffered
     from the French, which stands acknowledged by treaty and are
     stipulated to be made satisfaction for, but through the perfidy
     of the enemy, and in disregard of the treaty have hitherto
     remained unsatisfy'd; in which the honour of the nation as well
     as justice to the individuals, loudly call for redress.

Halifax and Soame Jenyns thereupon wrote to Pitt in these words:

     Sir,--The Governor and Company of Merchants trading to Hudson's
     Bay having presented a memorial to us, stating their claims
     with respect to limits and other matters provided for by the
     Treaty of Utrecht, and praying that in case of a peace with
     France, his Majesty would be graciously pleased to cause
     satisfaction to be made to them with respect to such claims,
     pursuant to the stipulations of the tenth and eleventh articles
     of the said treaty; we beg leave to transmit to you the
     enclosed copy of the said memorial for his Majesty's directions
     thereupon.

[Sidenote: Conquest of Canada.]

While England went mad with joy over Wolfe's victory at Quebec, the
Company thought the time had, at last, come when the indemnity it
claimed so long should be exacted in the treaty of peace which could
not be long delayed. But its sanguine expectations were not destined
to be realized. In vain did the Governor wait at the door of Mr.
Secretary Pitts; in vain did Lord Halifax assure the Company's
secretary that he would make it his own personal business to have the
affair attended to. It was too late in the day.[67] With reason might
the Company's zealous secretary trace in the minutes: "Locked up this
day (November 22nd, 1759), in the Great Iron Chest, a Book containing
estimates of the Company's losses sustained from the French, from 1682
to 1688."

The "Great Iron Chest" was to hold the book for many a day, and though
the Company evinced a never-failing alacrity to produce it, yet never
was there to be inscribed the words "settled with thanks," at the foot
of this "little bill against the French."

We have already been made familiar with the character of the Company's
forts in the Bay so late as the reign of Queen Anne. There had been
almost from the beginning a party amongst the Honourable Adventurers
favourable to the erection of strong forts, not built of logs with
bastions of stone, but of stone throughout, from the designs of
competent engineers.

A few years after the Company had regained possession of York Factory,
it built (1718) a wooden fort at Churchill River, to which was given
the name of Prince of Wales. In 1730 it constructed another at Moose
River; and about the same time a small post, capable of containing
eight or ten men at Slude River, on the East Main. In 1720 Henley
House, one hundred and fifty miles up Albany River, was built to
contain a garrison of eight men, as a check to the Indians who carried
on a trade with the French.

[Sidenote: Building of stone forts.]

But the wooden fort Prince of Wales did not remain long. The
remembrance of their former posts destroyed by fire, and Iberville's
cannon, caused the Company at length to undertake the fortification on
a splendid scale of its best harbour, to safeguard what it designed to
be its principal _entrepôt_ from the French, as well as from the
Indians. Opposition was cried down, and the "fortification party," as
it was called, carried the day. A massive thirty-feet wide foundation
was begun at Churchill, from the plans of military engineers who had
served under Marlborough, and, after many vicissitudes, in 1734 Fort
Prince of Wales, one of the strongest forts on the continent, was
reared at the mouth of Churchill River.

  [Illustration: FORT PRINCE OF WALES.]

It was the original intention to have the walls forty-two feet thick
at their foundation, but on account of the Governor's interference the
dimensions were reduced to twenty-five. It was afterwards found,
however, that there was a tendency to sink when cannon were fired
frequently from the walls, so one section was forthwith pulled down
and rebuilt according to original plans. Three of the bastions had
arches for storehouses, forty feet three inches by ten feet, and in
the fourth was built a stone magazine twenty-four feet long and ten
feet wide in the clear, with a passage to it through the gorge of the
bastion twenty-four feet long and four feet wide.

The parapets were originally constructed of wood, supplied by denuding
the old fort, situated five miles up the Churchill River, the site of
which was first occupied in 1688; but in 1746 the Company began
erecting a stone parapet. Robson's plan shows that two houses, a
dwelling and office building, were erected inside the fort, and
incidentally he describes one of the two as being one hundred and
eighty-one feet six inches by thirty-three feet, with side walls
seventeen feet high and the roof covered with lead.

In 1730 Moose, a new fort, was erected on the site of Moose Factory.
About the same time Richmond Fort was built on Whale River, but it did
not continue a great many years. I find, under date of 21st December,
1758, that "the Governor represented to the Committee that Richmond
Fort did not give a sufficient return to pay the most moderate charge
of supporting it," and it was "resolved that the Company's servants
and effects be withdrawn from there as soon as conveniently may be and
replaced at such of the Company's other factories as shall be found
needful." Further, it was "resolved that a factory with accommodation
for twelve men, with all convenience for trading goods stores, and
provisions, be built as early as possible in the year 1760, in the
most convenient place for that purpose on the north side of Severn
River and as high up as may be."

At the same time it was ordered that the number of men for York Fort
and the new settlement to be made on the Severn River should be
forty-eight men.

[Sidenote: Clandestine trade.]

Clandestine trade was a constantly recurring feature of eighteenth
century life in the Bay. Charges were repeatedly preferred against the
Company's servants, and altogether scores were dismissed as a
punishment for this offence. It must be confessed that there was often
a temptation difficult to resist. Nothing seemed more natural for the
poor apprentice to trade his jack-knife, Jew's-harp or silk kerchief
with an Indian or Esquimau for a peltry; and the only reason, perhaps,
why private bartering was not indulged in more generally was the
certainty of detection. But with the Governors and traders and ship
captains, risk was reduced to a minimum.

One of the most unfortunate examples was the case of Captain Coats.
This able mariner had been in the employ of the Company for a period
of many years. None was superior to him in knowledge of the Bay and
straits. Captain Coats had been twice shipwrecked, once in 1727, "when
near the meridian of Cape Farewell, when running through the ice with
a small sail, when two pieces of ice shutt upon us and sank our ship";
and again in 1736, when he was entangled in the ice off Cape
Resolution, when his ship had her sides crushed in and sank in twenty
minutes. Coats drew up a journal for the use of his sons, containing
an elaborate description of the Bay and its approaches, together with
a great deal of relative matter; and this journal, which has received
the honour of publication by the Hakluyt Society, concludes by saying
that if these sons are neglected by the Hudson's Bay Company they are
at liberty, and "it is his will and command that every part be made
publick, for the use and benefit of mankind."

There is herein, it is almost needless to say, no mention of the
captain's clandestine trading operations, which extended over a long
series of years, and which might never have been made known to the
Company had it not been for the sudden death of Pilgrim, who was
formerly governor at Prince of Wales and Moose Fort. A number of
private letters and papers reached England, incriminating Coats, but
they never reached the public; nor in 1752, were the Hakluyt Society
cognisant of the fate which overtook their author. "Of the writer,"
remarks Sir John Barrow, who edited the volume, "the editor can learn
but little; nothing, in fact, is now known of Captain Coats, except
that he was in the Company's service as commander of one or other of
their ships from 1727 to 1751." He added that the memorial was
believed to exist in the Company's archives.

Under date of November 28th, 1751, I find the following: "The Governor
having acquainted the Committee of this affair, and laid the letters
and papers before them, they were fully examined and the contents
thereof considered." Coats was then called in and told of the
information they had received, and the cause they had to suspect that
he had defrauded the Company by carrying on a clandestine trade
greatly to their prejudice and contrary to the fidelity he owed the
Company.

[Sidenote: Case of Capt. Coats.]

Coats at first endeavoured to excuse himself, but finding the proofs
contained in the letter papers (many of which were in his own
handwriting and signature) so strong in evidence against him, at last
owned he was guilty of the offence he was accused of and submitted
himself to the Company, and he was ordered to withdraw while his case
was considered. At the expiration of two hours the culprit was called
in and acquainted with his sentence, which was dismissal from the
service. He was ordered to deliver up the keys of the _King George_,
of which he was commander, together with the stores and the keys of
such stores in the warehouse in his custody belonging to the Company.

The disgraced captain went home, and after a miserable existence of
some weeks, ended his life by his own hand. On the 20th of February,
there is a letter to the Company from his widow, Mary Coats, which was
read out to the Adventurers assembled. It prayed that the Committee
would "indulge her so far as to order the balance that shall appear
upon her late husband's account to be paid, and to permit her to have
the stores brought home, still remaining in the _King George_; the
profit of these, urged the widow, had always been enjoyed by every
master in the Company's services." Moved by the appeal, Widow Coats
was called in and informed that provided she delivered up to the
Company all the books, papers, charts or drafts belonging to her late
husband and now in her custody, she might expect to meet with the
favour of the Company. "For which she returned thanks and promised to
comply therewith." But the Hakluyt Society's publication of Coats'
journal is sufficient to show that his widow did not keep to the
strict letter of her word.

FOOTNOTES:

[62] The number of the Adventurers was, before the enquiry of 1749, a
mystery. By many it was charged that they were not above a dozen or
fifteen.

[63] Dobbs's "Hudson's Bay," a hysterical work, which was throughout
an attack on Captain Christopher Middleton.

[64] 1720

[65] On June 28th, 1749, at a Company's meeting, an account was made
of the cost of defending the Company's charter, upon the motion made
in the House of Commons. It amounted in the whole to only £755 5s.
10d., exclusive of Sharpe, the Company solicitor's services.

[66] In refusing to advise the granting of a charter to the Company's
enemies, the Attorney-General, Sir Dudley Ryder, and the
Solicitor-General, Sir William Murray--afterwards Lord Mansfield--drew
up a lengthy and important paper, reviewing the charges against the
Company. Their conclusion was that either the charges were "not
sufficiently supported in point of fact, or were in great measure
accounted for from the nature and circumstances of the case." They
deemed the charter valid for all practical purposes.

[67] "The Company being apprehensive that Mr. Secretary Pitts'
indisposition should deprive them of an opportunity of conferring with
him in due time, with respect to the Company's claim on the French
nation for depredations in times of peace before the Treaty of
Utrecht, resolved that a petition should be drawn up to his Majesty,
humbly representing such losses and damages, reciting the tenth and
eleventh article of the said treaty, and praying that his Majesty will
give his plenipotentiaries at the approaching congress for a treaty of
peace, such directions as will suffice for justice being done to the
Company by compensation for such losses. Also that the boundaries of
Hudson's Bay may be settled."--_Minute Book_, May 20th, 1761.




CHAPTER XXIV.

1763-1770.

     Effect of the Conquest on the Fur-trade of the French --
     Indians again Seek the Company's Factories -- Influx of
     Highlanders into Canada -- Alexander Henry -- Mystery
     Surrounding the _Albany_ Cleared Up -- Astronomers Visit Prince
     of Wales' Fort -- Strike of Sailors -- Seizure of Furs --
     Measures to Discourage Clandestine Trade.


[Sidenote: Effect of the Conquest.]

The conquest of Canada by the English in 1760[68] had an almost
instantaneous effect upon the fur-trade of the French. The system of
licenses was swept away with the _régime_ of Intendants of New France.
The posts which, established chiefly for purposes of trade, were yet
military, came to be abandoned, and the officers who directed them
turned their disconsolate faces towards France, or to other lands
where the flag of the lily still waved. The English colonies were not
devoid of diligent traders ready to pursue their calling
advantageously: but they shrank from penetrating a country where the
enemy might yet lurk, a country of whose approaches, and of whose
aspect or inhabitants they knew nothing and feared everything. As for
the Indians themselves, they, for a time, awaited patiently the advent
of the French trader. Spring came and found them at the deserted
posts. They sought but they could not find; "their braves called
loudly, but the sighing trees alone answered their call." Despair at
first filled the bosoms of the Red men when they found that all their
winter's toil and hardships in the forest and over the trail had been
in vain. They waited all summer, and then, as the white trader came
not, wearily they took up their burdens and began their journey anew.

For a wise Indian had appeared amongst them, and he had said: "Fools,
why do you trust these white traders who come amongst you with beads,
and fire-water and crucifixes? They are but as the crows that come and
are gone. But there are traders on the banks of the great lake yonder
who are never absent, neither in our time nor in the time of our
grandfathers and great-grandfathers. They are like the rock which
cannot be moved, and they give good goods and plenty, and always the
same. If you are wise you will go hence and deal with them, and never
trust more the traders who are like fleas and grasshoppers--here one
minute and flown away the next."

More than one factor of the Company heard and told of this oft-spoken
harangue, and many there lived to testify to its effect upon the
assembled Indians. Not even was it forgotten or disregarded years
afterwards in the height of the prosperity of the Northmen, whose arts
of suasion were exercised in vain to induce the Red man to forego his
journey to York, Churchill or Cumberland.

"No," they would say, "we trade with our friends, as our grandfathers
did. Our fathers once waited for the French and Bostonians to come to
their forts, and they lay down and died, and their squaws devoured
them, waiting still. You are here to-day, but will you be here
to-morrow? No, we are going to trade with the Company."

And so they pressed on, resisting temptation, wayward, though loyal,
enduring a long and rough journey that they might deal with their
friends.

[Sidenote: The "coureurs de bois."]

Thus for some years the Company prospered, and did a more thriving
business than ever. But before, however, dealing with the new
_régime_, let us turn for a moment to the Canadian bushrangers and
voyageurs thus cut off from their homes and abandoned by their
officers and employers. Their occupation was gone--whither did they
drift? Too long had they led the untrammelled life of the wilderness
to adjust again the fetters of a civilized life in Montreal or Quebec;
they were attached to their brave and careless masters; these in many
instances they were permitted to follow; but large numbers dispersed
themselves amongst the Indians. Without capital they could no longer
follow the fur-trade; they were fond of hunting and fishing; and so by
allying themselves with Indian wives, and by following the pursuits
and adopting the customs of the Red men, themselves became virtually
savages, completely severed from their white fellows.

But an influx of Scotch Highlanders had been taking place in Canada
ever since 1745, and some of these bold spirits were quick to see the
advantages of prosecuting, without legal penalty, a private trade in
furs. To these were added English soldiers, who were discharged at the
peace, or had previously deserted. How many of these were slain by the
aborigines, and never more heard of, can never be computed; but it is
certain that many more embarked in the fur-trade and fell victims to
the tomahawk, torch, hunger and disease than there is any record of.

[Sidenote: Hostility of the Indians to the English.]

It is certain, also, that the hostility of the tribes, chief amongst
them the Iroquois, to the English, was very great, and this hostility
was nourished for some years by the discontented bushrangers and
voyageurs. In the action of Pontiac at Detroit, and the surprise and
capture of Michilimackinac with its attendant horrors, there is
ample proof, both of the spirit animating the Indians, and the danger
which went hand in hand with the new trade in furs.

  [Illustration: A BLACKFOOT BRAVE.
   (_Drawn by Edmund Morris, after photo._)]

The first of these English traders at Michilimackinac to penetrate
into the west, where the French had gone, is said to be Thomas Curry.
This man, having by shrewdness and ability procured sufficient capital
for the purpose, engaged guides and interpreters, purchased a stock of
goods and provisions, and with four canoes reached Fort Bourbon, which
was situated at the western extremity of Cedar Lake, on the waters of
the Saskatchewan. His venture was successful, and he returned to
Montreal with his canoes loaded with fine furs. But he never expressed
a desire to repeat the performance, although it was not long before
his example was followed by many others. James Finlay was the first of
these; he penetrated to Nipawee, the last of the French posts on the
Saskatchewan, in latitude 53½, and longitude 103. This trader was
equally successful.

[Sidenote: Henry's expedition.]

After a career of some years in the vicinity of Michilimackinac, of a
general character, identical with that pursued a hundred years before
by Groseilliers, another intrepid trader, Alexander Henry, decided to
strike off into the North-West. He left "the Sault," as Sault Ste.
Marie was called, on the 10th of June, 1775, with goods and provisions
to the value of £3,000 sterling, on board twelve small canoes and four
larger ones. Each small canoe was navigated by three men, and each
larger one by four. On the 20th they encamped at the mouth of the
Pijitic. It was by this river, he tells us, that the French ascended
in 1750, when they plundered one of the Company's factories in the
bay, and carried off the two small pieces of brass cannon, which fell
again into English hands at Michilimackinac. But here Henry fell into
error; for it was by the River Michipicoten that the French went, and
the factory plundered of its adornments was Moose, not Churchill, and
the year 1756, not 1750.

Henry himself was going on a sort of plundering expedition against
the Company, which was to be far more effective in setting an example
to others, than any the French had yet carried through. Everywhere as
he passed along there were evidences of the recent French occupation.

To return to 1767, this year had witnessed a clearing up of the
mystery surrounding the fate of the _Albany_, the first of the vessels
sent by the Company to search for a north-west passage.

  [Illustration: ALEXANDER HENRY.]

[Sidenote: Fate of the "Albany."]

The Company was at that time carrying on a black whale fishery, and
Marble Island was made the rendezvous, not merely on account of the
commodious harbour, but because of the greater abundance of whales
there. Under these circumstances the boats, when on the lookout for
fish, had frequent occasion to row close to the island, which led to
the discovery, at the easternmost extremity, of a new harbour.[69]
Upon landing at this place, the crews made a startling discovery. They
found English guns, anchors, cables, bricks, a smith's anvil, and many
other articles lying on the ground, which, though they were very old,
had not been defaced by the hand of time, and which having been
apparently without use to the native Esquimaux, and too heavy to be
removed by them, had not been removed from the spot where they had
originally been laid a little farther inland. The whalers beheld the
remains of a frame house,[70] which, though half destroyed by the
Esquimaux for the wood and iron, yet could plainly be seen at a
distance. Lastly, when the tide ebbed in the harbour there became
visible the hulls of two craft, lying sunk in five fathoms of water.
The figurehead of one of these vessels, together with the guns and
other implements, was shortly afterwards carried to England. The
hypothesis of Governor Norton was instantly and only too correctly
espoused by the Company. On this inhospitable island, where neither
stick nor stump was, nor is to be seen, and which lies sixteen miles
from a mainland, no less inhospitable, perished Knight, Barlow, and
the other members of the exploring expedition of 1719. Thus was a fate
nearly half a century in the balance ascertained at last.

Two years later some members of a whaling party landed at this same
harbour, and one of their number, perceiving some aged Esquimaux,
determined to question them on the matter.

"This," says the narrator, "we were the better enabled to do by the
assistance of an Esquimau, who was then in the Company's service as a
linguist, and annually sailed in one of their vessels in that
character. The account received from these aged natives was 'full,
clear and unreserved,' and its purport was in this wise:

"When the doomed vessels arrived at Marble Island, it was late in the
autumn of 1719, and in making the harbour through the ice, the larger
was considerably damaged. The party landed safely, however, and at
once set about building the house. As soon as the ice permitted, in
the following summer, the Esquimaux paid them a further visit, and
observed that the white strangers were largely reduced in number and
that the survivors were very unhealthy in appearance. According to the
account given by these Esquimaux, these were very busily employed, but
the nature of their employment they could not easily describe. It is
probable they were lengthening the long-boat or repairing the ship,
and to support this conjecture, forty-eight years later there lay, at
a little distance from the house, a quantity of oak chips, 'most
assuredly made by carpenters.'"

Much havoc must have been thenceforward wrought among the explorers,
who could not repair their ship, which even may by this time have been
sunk; and by the second winter, only twenty souls out of fifty
remained.

[Sidenote: Wretched death of Knight and his men.]

That same winter, some of the Esquimaux had taken up their abode on
the opposite side of the harbour to the English, and frequently
supplied them with such provisions as they had, which consisted
chiefly of whale's blubber, seal's flesh and train oil. When the
spring advanced, the natives crossed over to the mainland, and upon
visiting Marble Island in the summer of 1721 found only five of the
white men alive, and those in such distress that they instantly seized
upon and devoured the seal's flesh and whale blubber, given them in
trade by their visitors, in a raw state. This occasioned a severe
physical disorder which destroyed three of the five; and the other
two, though very weak made shift to bury their dead comrades. These
two survivors eked out a wretched existence for many weeks, frequently
resorting to the summit of an adjacent rock, in the vain hope of
being seen by some relief party. But alas, they were doomed to a daily
disappointment; the Esquimaux themselves had little to offer them; and
at last they were seen by the wandering natives to crouch down close
together and cry aloud like children, the tears rolling down their
cheeks. First one of the pair died, and then the other, in an attempt
to dig a grave for his fellow. The Esquimau who told the story, led
the whalers to the spot and showed them the skulls and the larger
bones of the luckless pair, then lying above ground not a great
distance from the dwelling. It is believed that the last survivor must
have been the armourer or smith of the expedition, because according
to the account given by the aborigines, he was always employed in
working iron into implements for them, some of which they could still
show.

There flourished in 1768 the body known as the "Royal Society for
Improving Natural Knowledge." This society wrote to the Company,
requesting that two persons might be conveyed to and from Fort
Churchill in Hudson's Bay, in some of the Company's ships, "to observe
the passage of Venus over the sun, which will happen on the 3rd of
June, 1769." It was desired that these persons might be maintained by
the Company, and furnished with all necessary articles while on board
and on shore. The Company was asked to furnish them with materials and
the assistance of servants to erect an observatory; the Society
engaging to recoup the Company's whole charge, and desiring an
estimate of the expense.

[Sidenote: Astronomers at Hudson's Bay, 1769.]

The Company expressed itself as "ready to convey the persons desired,
with their baggage and instruments, to and from Fort Churchill, and to
provide them with lodging and medicine while there, _gratis_, they to
find their own bedding." The Company demanded £250 for diet during the
absence of the astronomers from England, which would be about eighteen
months. The Adventurers recommended the Society to send the intended
building in frame, with all necessary implements, tools, etc., which
"will be conveyed upon freight, the Royal Society likewise paying for
any clothing that may be supplied the observers during their
residence in Hudson's Bay."

It is interesting to record that the expedition was entirely
successful. The two astronomers went out to Prince of Wales' Fort, and
returned in the _Prince Rupert_, after having witnessed the transit of
Venus on the 3rd of June, 1769.

Towards the middle of the century there had grown up a deep prejudice
and opposition towards the Hudson's Bay Company from the sailors and
watermen who frequented the Thames.

It was alleged that the Company did nothing to make itself popular;
its rules were strict and its wages to seamen were low, albeit it had
never suffered very much from this prejudice until the return of the
Middleton expedition. Many absurd stories became current as to the
Company's policy and the life led by the servants at the factories.
These travellers' tales had been thoroughly threshed out by the
enquiry of 1749. The opponents of the Company had told their "shocking
narratives." It was only natural, perhaps, that these should be passed
about from mouth to mouth, and so become exaggerated beyond bounds.
Upon the discharge and death of Captain Coats a demonstration against
the Company had been talked of at Wapping and Gravesend, but nothing
came of it but a few hootings and bawlings as the ships sailed away on
their annual voyages to the Bay.

By 1768, however, the dissatisfaction had spread to the Company's own
seamen, and now took an active form. The time was well chosen by the
malcontents, because the public were ready at that time to sympathize
with the movement for the amelioration of the conditions which
characterized the merchant service generally.

[Sidenote: The Company's seamen strike.]

A numerous body of seamen forcibly entered the Company's ships in the
River Thames, demanding that wages should be raised to 40s. per month.
They struck the topgallant masts and yards, and lowered the lower
yards close down, and got them in fore and aft. The consequence was
that the crews of the Company's ships and brigantine were compelled
to quit their vessels.

The moment the tidings of this reached the Governor and Company it was
deemed advisable for the Deputy Governor, Thomas Berens and James
Fitzgerald, Esquires, to "attend his Majesty's principal Secretaries
of State, and such other gentlemen in the Administration as they shall
find necessary, and represent the urgent situation of the Company's
affairs in general."

This was done forthwith, and the facts of the situation placed before
Viscount Weymouth and Sir Edward Hawke First Lord of the Admiralty.

Secretary of State Weymouth appeared well disposed to do all the
service in his power to redress the present grievances; that a
memorial should be presented on the Company's behalf.

While the memorial was being drawn up, the three captains acquainted
the Commissioners that under the present disturbances on the River
Thames, they should not be able to secure the seamen they had already
got, without allowing their sailors 40s. per month. It was then the
18th of May, and the Company considered that the lives of its servants
abroad, and the event of the intended voyage, would not admit of
delay. They therefore told their three captains, and the master of the
_Charlotte_, brigantine, that they would allow the sailors 35s. per
month from their respective entries to this day, inclusive, and 40s.
per month from this day for their voyage out and home.

Hardly had this been done than a letter was received expressing Lord
Weymouth's great concern on being informed that the Company's ships
had been prevented from sailing until a promise was made to raise the
seamen's wages, and that some acts of violence had been committed to
effect their purpose. From the strong assurance his Lordship had
received that there was no danger of any obstacle to delay the
voyages, he was almost ready to doubt the rumour.

Berens called on Weymouth and informed him that the Company's critical
situation had already obliged the Company to acquiesce in the demand
of 40s. per month for the seamen's wages. No acts of violence were
committed on board the Company's ship, other than that the crews were
daily forced against their inclination to join the rioters.

The ships were at length got down to Greenwich and proceeded on their
voyage with despatch.

But the Company was not yet out of the wood. Clandestine trade was to
be again its bogey. The disaffection had been temporarily arrested
amongst the sailors: but they were hardly prepared to learn that it
extended to the captains themselves, who had, however, the best of
reasons for concealing their feelings. When the ships came home in the
following year the Company received information that a seizure of furs
and other valuable goods brought from Hudson's Bay had been made since
the arrival of the Company's ships that season. Communication was
entered into with the Commissioners of Customs requesting a particular
account of such seizures either from the Company's ships or other
places, "in order that the Commissioners may pursue an enquiry for
detecting the frauds that have been committed to the prejudice of His
Majesty's Revenue and the interest of the Company."

[Sidenote: Clandestine trade by the Company's captains.]

Suspicion for the loss of numerous packages of furs now began to
fasten itself upon one of the Company's captains, Horner of the
_Seahorse_. Horner acknowledged that he was not altogether ignorant
that the furs had been abstracted from the hold of his ship. The
Company deliberated on his case, and it was "unanimously resolved that
the said John Horner be discharged from the Company's service." The
other captains were now called in and acquainted with the reasons for
Captain Horner's discharge. The Adventurers declared their
determination to make the like public example of all persons who
should be found to be concerned in clandestine trade.

In the following year the Company came to a wise decision. Taking into
consideration the state of its trade and the many frauds that "have
been practised and detected," it was concluded that such frauds were
connived at by the Company's chief factors and captains, who were not
only privy thereto, but in consideration for some joint interest,
permitted this illicit trade to be carried on.

[Sidenote: Salaries increased.]

The Company seems to have thought that the chief factors and captains
might have been tempted to these nefarious practices by the smallness
of their respective salaries, and therefore in the hope of securing
their fidelity and encouraging diligence and industry, and the
extending of the Company's trade to the utmost to the benefit of the
Company and the revenue, it was decided that a salary of £130 per
annum be allowed the chief factors at York, Albany, and Prince of
Wales' Fort; also the factors about to be appointed at Moose Fort and
Severn House, "in lieu of former salaries, and all trapping
gratuities, and perquisites whatever, except a servant, which is to be
allowed to them as before."

A gratuity was to be given to all chief factors of three shillings
upon every score of made beaver which they consigned and "which shall
actually be brought home to the Company's account."

To the captains a gratuity was decreed of one shilling and sixpence
per score of made beaver which they should bring to the Company's
warehouse in good saleable condition.

To prevent any loss from rioters or dissatisfied sailors the Company
decided, in 1770, to insure their ships and goods for the first time
in its history. The secretary made enquiries at the London Assurance
Office, and reported that the premium would be five per cent. per
annum on each ship during their being in dock, or on the River Thames
above Gravesend; and the same on the ships' stores while they
continued in the Company's warehouse at Ratcliff. Whereupon the
Company insured each of its three ships for £2,000, and the ships'
stores in the above warehouse for £3,000.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] France ceded to England "Canada with all its dependencies,"
reserving only such part of what had been known as Canada as lay west
of the Mississippi. The watershed between the Missouri and the
Mississippi rivers had been the boundary between Canada and Louisiana
when both were owned by France, and by the treaty of 1763 the River
Mississippi was agreed to as the future boundary between the English
and French possessions in that quarter; the language of the treaty
being, "that the confines between [France and England] in that part of
the world shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle
of the River Mississippi from its source [etc.], to the sea." Very
soon after this treaty, viz., on 7th October, 1763, the Province of
Quebec was erected by Royal Proclamation, but the Province as then
constituted took in very little of what was afterwards Upper Canada
and what is now Ontario; the most north-westerly point was Lake
Nipissing; the whole of the territory adjacent to the great lakes was
excluded. In 1774 the boundaries of Quebec were enlarged by the Quebec
Act. That Act recited that "by the arrangements made by the said Royal
Proclamation a very large extent of territory, within which were
several colonies and settlements of subjects of France, who claimed to
remain therein under the faith of the said treaty, was left without
any provision being made for the administration of civil government
therein." The Act, therefore, provided that "all the territories,
islands and countries in North America belonging to the Crown of Great
Britain, bounded on the south by a line" therein described, "from the
Bay of Chaleurs to the River Ohio, and along the bank of the said
river, westward, to the banks of the Mississippi, and northward to the
southern boundary of the territory granted to the Merchants-Adventurers
of England trading into Hudson's Bay," etc., "be, and they are hereby,
during His Majesty's pleasure, annexed to and made part and parcel of
the Province of Quebec as created and established by the said Royal
Proclamation of the 7th October, 1763."

[69] It is not a little singular that neither Middleton, Ellis,
Christopher, Johnston nor Garbet, all of which explorers had visited
Marble Island prior to 1767, and some of them often, ever discovered
this harbour. The actual discoverer was Joseph Stephens, commanding
the _Success_, a small vessel employed in the whale fishery. Two years
later Stephens was given the command of the _Charlotte_, a fine brig
of 100 tons, his mate then being Samuel Hearne, the explorer.

[70] "I have seen," wrote Governor Hearne, "the remains of those
houses several times; they are on the west side of the harbour, and in
all probability will be discernible for many years to come."




CHAPTER XXV.

1768-1773.

     Reports of the "Great River" -- Company despatch Samuel Hearne
     on a Mission of Discovery -- Norton's Instructions -- Saluted
     on his Departure from the Fort -- First and Second Journeys --
     Matonabee -- Results of the Third Journey -- The Company's
     Servants in the Middle of the Century -- Death of Governor
     Norton.


[Sidenote: The "Great River."]

Some northern Indians, who came to trade at Prince of Wales' Fort in
the spring of 1768, brought further accounts of the "Great River," as
they persisted in calling it, and also produced several pieces of
copper, as specimens of a mine long believed by the traders to exist
in the vicinity. This determined Governor Norton to represent it to
the Company as a matter well worthy their attention. As he went that
year to England, he was given the opportunity of doing so in person;
and in consequence of his representations, the Committee resolved to
despatch an intelligent person by land to observe the latitude and
longitude of the river's mouth, and to make a chart of the country
traversed, with such observations as might lead to a better knowledge
of the region. An intelligent mariner, Samuel Hearne, then in the
Company's employ as mate of the brig _Charlotte_, was selected for the
mission.[71]

[Sidenote: Hearne's expedition of discovery.]

Before starting on his journey in 1769, Hearne received full
instructions from Moses Norton, the Governor. He was provided with an
escort and was urged to cultivate, as he went, friendly relations with
the Indians. "Smoke your calumet of peace with their leaders in order
to establish a friendship with them." He was equipped with
instruments, and was required to take account of latitude and
longitude of the chief points visited; he was to seek for a north-west
passage through the continent. But a more immediate and practical
matter was dwelt upon in his letter. "Be careful to observe what mines
are near the river,[72] what water there is at the river's mouth, how
far the woods are from the seaside, the course of the river, the
nature of the soil, and the productions of it; and make any other
remarks that you may think will be either necessary or satisfactory.
And if the said river be likely to be of any utility, take possession
of it on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company by cutting your name on
some of the rocks, and also the date of the year, month, etc."

Hearne promised to follow these instructions implicitly, and soon
after daybreak on the morning of the 6th of November, the occupants of
the fort assembled to witness the intrepid explorer's departure. A
salute of seven guns and a ringing cheer thrice repeated was
responded to by Hearne, already on his way, with a wave of his cap.

  [Illustration: DOBBS' MAP, 1744.]

He had not gone far, however, when dissatisfaction broke out amongst
his party. First one Indian guide deserted him and then another; but
trusting to the fidelity of the rest Hearne pressed forward. At last,
nearly the whole party left him, taking at the same time several bags
of powder and shot, his hatchets, chisels and files. His chief guide,
Chaw-chin-ahaw, now advised the explorer to return, and announced his
own intention of travelling to his own tribe in the south-west.

"Thus," says Hearne, "they set out, making the woods ring with their
laughter, and left us to consider our unhappy situation, nearly two
hundred miles from Prince of Wales' Fort, all heavily laden, and in
strength and spirits greatly reduced by hunger and fatigue."

Mortifying as the prospect of return was, it was inevitable. They
arrived on the 11th of December, to the astonishment of Norton and the
Company's servants.

[Sidenote: Second expedition.]

But Hearne was not to be daunted. On the 23rd of February he again set
out with five Indians. This time his journey was a succession of short
stages, with intervals of a whole day's rest between. These intervals
were occupied in killing deer, or in seeking for fish under the ice
with nets. On one occasion they spent a day in building a more
permanent tent, where they waited for the flights of goose to appear.

The course had been in a general north-western direction from the
Churchill River, but on the 10th of June the party abandoned the
rivers and lakes and struck out into the barren lands. The following
narrative by Hearne is interesting, because up to that moment no
servant of the Company had ever seen a live musk ox, that "now rare
denizen of the northern solitudes."

"We had not walked above seven or eight miles before we saw three musk
oxen grazing by the side of a small lake. The Indians immediately went
in pursuit of them, and as some were expert hunters they soon killed
the whole of them. This was, no doubt, very fortunate, but to our
great mortification before we could get one of them skinned, such a
fall of rain came on as to put it out of our power to make a fire,
which, even in the finest weather, could only be made of moss, as we
were nearly a hundred miles from any woods. This was poor comfort for
people who had not broken their fast for four or five days. Necessity,
however, has no law, and having before been initiated into the method
of eating raw meat, we were the better prepared for this repast. But
this was by no means so well relished, either by me or the Southern
Indians, as either raw venison or raw fish had been; for the flesh of
the musk-ox is not only coarse and tough, but smells and tastes so
strong of musk as to make it very disagreeable when raw, though it is
tolerable eating when properly cooked. The weather continued so
remarkably bad, accompanied with constant heavy rain, snow and sleet,
and our necessities were so great by the time the weather permitted us
to make a fire, that we had nearly eaten to the amount of one buffalo
quite raw."

[Sidenote: Hardships of the journey.]

What severities of hardship were endured by our traveller may be
judged from his description. "We have fasted many times," he declares,
"two whole days and nights; twice upwards of three days, and once,
while at Shethaunee, near seven days, during which we tasted not a
mouthful of anything except a few cranberries, water, scraps of old
leather and burnt bones. On these pressing occasions I have frequently
seen the Indians examine their wardrobe, which consisted chiefly of
skin clothing, and consider what part could best be spared; sometimes
a piece of an old, half-rotten deerskin, and others a pair of old
shoes, were sacrificed to alleviate extreme hunger."

It was while in the midst of these sufferings and bitter experiences,
which required all the traveller's courage to endure that a disaster
of a different order happened. It was the 11th of August. Hearne had
reached a point some five hundred miles north-west of Churchill. It
proving rather windy at noon, although otherwise fine, he had let his
valuable quadrant stand, in order to obtain the latitude more exactly
by two altitudes. He then retired to eat his mid-day meal. Suddenly he
was startled by a crash, and looking in the direction, found that a
gust of wind had overturned the instrument and sent it crashing to
earth. As the ground where it stood was very stony, the bubble,
sight-vane and vernier were entirely broken to pieces, and the
instrument thus destroyed. In consequence of this misfortune, the
traveller resolved to retrace his steps wearily back to Prince of
Wales' Fort.

When he had arrived at Churchill River he had met the friendly chief,
Matonabee,[73] who at once, and with charming simplicity, volunteered
a reason for the troubles which had overtaken the white explorer. He
had taken no women with him on his journey. Said Matonabee:

[Sidenote: The Indian's estimate of woman.]

"When all the men are heavy-laden they can neither hunt nor travel to
any considerable distance; and in case they meet with success in
hunting, who is to carry the product of their labour? Women," added
he, "were made for labour; one of them carry or haul as much as two
men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing,
keep up our fires at night, and, in fact, there is no such thing as
travelling any considerable distance, or for any length of time, in
this country, without their assistance. Women," he observed again,
"though they do everything, are maintained at a trifling expense, for
as they always act as cooks, the very licking of their fingers in
scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence."

Hearne did not reach the fort till towards the close of November. On
the 21st he thus describes the weather: "That night we lay on the
south shore of Egg River, but long before daybreak the next morning,
the weather being so bad, with a violent gale of wind from the
north-west, and such a drift of snow that we could not have a bit of
fire; and as no good woods were near to afford us shelter, we agreed
to proceed on our way, especially as the wind was on our backs; and
though the weather was bad near the surface we could frequently see
the moon and sometimes the stars, to direct us in our course. In this
situation we continued walking the whole day, and it was not until
after ten at night that we could find the smallest tuft of wood to put
up in; for though we well knew we must have passed by several
hummocks of shrubby wood that might have afforded us some shelter, yet
the wind blew so hard and the snow drifted so excessively thick that
we could not see ten yards before us the whole day."

That night his dog, a valuable animal, was frozen to death, and after
that there was nothing for it but he must himself haul his heavy
sledge over the snowdrifts.

Twice baffled, yet the intrepid explorer was far from being swerved
from his purpose. Not even the distrust of Norton, who wrote home to
the Company that Hearne was unfit for the task in hand, could
discourage him from making a third attempt. On this journey, his plan
was to secure the company and assistance of Matonabee, and three or
four of the best Indians under that chief; and this was put into
practice on the 7th of December, 1770. This time the departure took
place under different auspices. There was no firing of cannon from the
fort, no cheering, and no hearty Godspeeds from the Governor and his
staff.

Again, similar adventures to those encountered the first two journeys
were met with. Hearne cultivated the friendship of strange, but not
hostile, savages as he went along. In one locality he took part in
"snaring deer in a pound," or large stockade. The rest of the winter
was spent in such a succession of advances as the weather and state of
the country permitted. In April it was possible to obtain supplies of
birch wood staves for tent poles, and birch rind and timber for
building canoes. Spring enabled the party to proceed with greater
rapidity, and at last a rendezvous at a place called Clowey was
reached. From this point the final dash for the Coppermine River, the
main object of the expedition, must be made. At Clowey some hundreds
of Indians joined the little party to proceed to the Coppermine, and
thus it grew suddenly into a military expedition, for the tribe was
bent on making war on the Esquimaux, should the latter be discovered.

[Sidenote: The expedition reaches the Arctic.]

The long-desired spot was attained at last. On the 14th of July Hearne
and his party looked out over the dancing surface of the Coppermine
River, and descending this stream to its mouth beheld the Arctic
Ocean. Hearne thus being the first white man to reach the northern sea
from the interior.

Says the explorer: "In those high latitudes, and at this season of the
year, the sun is always at a good height over the horizon, so that we
not only had daylight, but sunshine the whole night; a thick fog and
drizzling rain then came on, and finding that neither the river nor
sea were likely to be of any use, I did not think it worth while to
wait for fair weather to determine the latitude exactly by an
observation. For the sake of form, however, after having had some
consultation with the Indians, I erected a mark and took possession of
the coast, on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company. I was not provided
with instruments for cutting on stone, but I cut my name, date of the
year, etc., on a piece of board that had been one of the Indian's
targets, and placed it in a heap of stones on a small eminence near
the entrance of the river, on the south side."

"It is, indeed," remarks Hearne, "well known to the intelligent and
well-informed part of the Company's servants, that an extensive and
numerous tribe of Indians, called E-arch-e-thinnews, whose country
lies far west of any of the Company's or Canadian settlements, must
have traffic with the Spaniards on the west side of the continent;
because some of the Indians who formerly traded to York Fort, when at
war with those people, frequently found saddles, bridles, muskets, and
many other articles in their possession which were undoubtedly of
Spanish manufacture."[74]

[Sidenote: Hearne returns to England.]

Hearne went home to England and related his experiences in a paper
read before his employers, the Honorable Adventurers.[75] It was not
until some years later that it was discovered that he had, either in
ignorance or, according to one of his enemies named Dalrymple, "in a
desire to increase the value of his performance," placed the latitude
of the Coppermine at nearly 71 degrees north instead of at about 67½
degrees. Hearne's own apology was that after the breaking of his
quadrant[76] on the second expedition, he was forced to employ an old
Elton quadrant, which had for thirty years been amongst the relics and
rubbish of Prince of Wales' Fort. But the geographical societies were
indignant at having been thus imposed upon.

"I cannot help observing," wrote Hearne, "that I feel myself rather
hurt at Mr. Dalrymple's rejecting my latitude in so peremptory a
manner and in so great a proportion as he has done; because before I
arrived at Cange-cath-a-whachaga, the sun did not set during the whole
night, a proof that I was then to the northward of the Arctic circle."

Hearne's journey, considering the epoch in which it was undertaken,
the life led by the Company's servants at the forts, and the terrible
uncertainties incident to plunging into an icy wilderness, with no
security against hunger or the attacks of savages, was greater than it
really appeared, and without doubt paved the way for the Company's new
policy.

With the ship which brought Hearne over from England came a large
number of young Orkney Islanders.

[Sidenote: Company employ Orkney Islanders.]

The labouring servants, as has been seen, were first in 1712, and from
about 1775 onwards, procured from the Orkney Islands, their wages
being about £6 a year. They were engaged by the captains of the ships,
usually for a period of five years. Each servant signed a contract on
his entrance into the service to serve for the term and not to return
home until its expiration, unless recalled by the Company. He engaged
during his passage back to do duty as watch on board ship without
extra pay; but that which was the last and principal clause of the
agreement related to illicit trading. He was bound in the most solemn
manner not to detain, secrete, harbour or possess any skin or part of
a skin, on any pretence whatever; but on the contrary, he was to
search after and detect all persons who might be disposed to engage in
this species of speculation. Should he detect any such, he was to
expose them to the Governor. If contrary to this agreement, any
persons should be found bold enough to conceal any peltry or otherwise
infringe his contract, they were to forfeit all the wages due them by
the Company. Although a further penalty was nominally exacted under
the contract, that of a fine of two years' pay, it was rarely carried
into effect, and then only when the delinquent was believed to have
largely profited by his illegal transaction.

In the early days when a servant's time expired and he was about to
return home, the Governor in person was supposed to inspect his chest,
even examining his bedding and other effects, to see that it contained
not even the smallest marten skin. An almost equally rigorous
surveillance attended the sending of private letters and parcels, not
merely in the Bay alone, but in London. In the latter case, the parcel
of clothing, etc., intended for the Company's distant servant, was
first obliged to be sent to the Hudson's Bay House, and there undergo
a careful examination for fear it should contain anything used in
private trade.

During the time that the Indians were at the posts trading their
furs, the gates were continually kept closed, it being the regular
employment of one person to see that no one made his exit for fear he
should attempt a private barter with the Indians. While this rule was
rarely relaxed, yet it was not at all of the forts that a too strict
watch was kept on the movements of the employees. At York Fort,
however, during the eighteenth century, if a servant wished to take a
walk on a Sunday afternoon, at a time when no natives were trading, it
was first necessary to apply to the Governor for leave.

Of the run of the Company's servants in the latter half of the
eighteenth century, a writer of that day has said of them: "They are a
close, prudent, quiet people, strictly faithful to their employers,"
adding that they were "sordidly avaricious."

Whilst these young Scotchmen were scattered about the country in small
parties amongst the Indians, their general behaviour won them the
respect of the savages, as well as procured them their protection. It
is a significant fact that for the first fifteen years of the new
_régime_ the Company did not suffer the loss of a single man,
notwithstanding that their servants were annually exposed to all the
dangers incident to the trade and times.

[Sidenote: Character of the Company's traders.]

It was observed that very few of the Canadian servants were to be
entirely trusted with even a small assortment of goods, unless some
substantial guarantee were first exacted. The chances were ten to one
that the master would be defrauded of the whole stock of merchandise,
often through the medium of the Indian women, who were quick to
perceive what an easy prey was the one and how difficult the other.
The French-Canadian traders were brave and hardy; apt in learning the
habits and language of the Indians; dexterous canoemen and of a
lively, not to say boisterous, disposition; but none of these
qualities, nor all together, were often the means of earning the
respect and trust of the natives. And it must not be imagined that
these talents and accomplishments were limited to the Canadians, even
in the earliest days of rivalry.

"Though such may be the sentiments of their employers," wrote one of
the Company's factors, "let these gentlemen for a while look around
them and survey without prejudice the inhabitants of our own
hemisphere, and they will find people who are brought up from their
infancy to hardships, and inured to the inclemency of the weather from
their earliest days; they will also find people who might be trusted
with thousands, and who are much too familiarized to labour and
fatigue to repine under the pressure of calamity as long as their own
and their master's benefit is in view. I will further be bold to say
that the present servants of the Company may be led as far inland as
navigation is practicable, with more ease and satisfaction to the
owners, than the same number of Canadians."

The former, it was noted, would be always honest, tractable and
obedient, as well from inclination as from fear of losing their
pecuniary expectations; whereas the latter, being generally in debt,
and having neither good name, integrity nor property to lose, were
always neglectful of the property committed to their charge. Whenever
difficulties arose there was never wanting some amongst them to impede
the undertaking.

[Sidenote: The council at the forts.]

The Governor at each factory occasionally had a person to act with
him, who was known as the second or under-factor. These, with the
surgeon and the master of the sloop, constituted a council, who were
supposed to deliberate in cases of emergency or upon affairs of
importance. Amongst the latter were classed the reading of the
Company's general letter, received annually and inditing a reply to
it; the encroachments of their French, at a later period, Canadian
rivals; or the misbehaviour of the servants. In these councils very
little regard, it seems, was paid to the opinion of the subordinate
members, who rather desired to obtain the Governor's favour by
acquiescence rather than his resentment by opposition.

The Governors were appointed for either three or five years, and their
nominal salary was from £50 to £150 per annum, which the premium on
the trade often trebled and sometimes quadrupled. These officials
commonly reigned as absolute in their petty commands as Eastern
Nabobs; and as it was in a Governor's power to render the lives of
those under them happy or unhappy as they chose, it was only natural
that the inferior servants were most diligent in cultivating their
good will. It was out of the power, of course, for any aggrieved or
dissatisfied servant to return home until the ships came, and if he
then persisted in his intention, the payment of his wages was withheld
until the Company should decide upon his character, which was
furnished in writing by the Governor. Although the voice of an
inferior servant counted but little when opposed to the Governor, yet
there are few instances when the Company, in parting with a servant,
refused him his wages in full.

It is an old axiom that austerity is acquired by a term of absolute
petty dominion, so that it is not remarkable that the Company's early
Governors were distinguished by this trait in the fullest degree.

"I had an opportunity," wrote one former factor, "of being acquainted
with many Governors in my time. I could single out several whose
affability and capacity merited a better employment. Some I have known
who despised servility and unworthy deeds; but this was only for a
time, and while young in their stations."

Such criticism, while doubtless unjust, had yet, applied generally, a
basis of truth.

[Sidenote: Character of the trading governors.]

Robson complains of a Governor at Churchill, in his time, who had a
thousand times rendered himself obnoxious to society. But perhaps the
Company had never in its employ a more eccentric and choleric official
than the governor who was in command of York Factory from 1773 to
1784. It is said of him that his bad name extended even across the
Atlantic and reached the Orkney Isles, where the malevolence of his
disposition became a by-word, and restrained many youths from entering
the Company's service. Intoxication seems to have been this Governor's
principal delight, and this was often gratified at the expense of
common prudence, as when the French captured York Factory in 1782; no
common spirits being on hand, he procured raw alcohol from the
surgeon, of which he drank several bumpers to raise his courage.

Although most of the Company's early trading Governors were, in spite
of their tempers and habits, persons of education and intelligence,
yet there were occasional exceptions. One, Governor Hughes, was said
to be incapable of casting up a simple sum in addition; numeral
characters being almost unknown to him; nor was his success in writing
his own name greater. Yet his courage and business ability was beyond
question.

It has already been observed that the Company were accustomed to treat
with much deference, and to place great reliance upon their chief
factors while these were at their posts in the Bay; yet it must not be
supposed that the same consideration was extended to them on their
return home. A Governor, it was said by one of the Company's servants,
might attend the Hudson's Bay House, and walk about their Hall for a
whole day without the least notice being taken of his attendance. It
is related that one such Governor, after having served the Company for
a matter of seventeen years, went home in 1782, expecting to reap in
person some of the rewards of his faithful service in the compliments
and attentions of the Adventurers as a body. But, to his chagrin, not
the slightest notice was taken of him, and he returned without having
even been introduced to a single partner.

[Sidenote: Death of Governor Norton.]

On the 29th of December, 1773, there died one of the notable
characters in the Bay, Governor Moses Norton. Norton was an Indian
half-breed, the son of a previous Governor, Richard Norton. He was
born at Prince of Wales' Fort, but had been in England nine years, and
considering the small sum spent on his education, had made
considerable progress in literature. At his return to the Bay,
according to Hearne, he entered into all the abominable vices of his
countrymen. He established a seraglio, in which figured five or six
of the most comely Indian maidens. Yet, although somewhat lax in his
morality himself, he seems to have been by no means indulgent to
others. To his own friends and relatives, the Indians and half-breeds,
it is said, he was "so partial that he set more value on, and showed
more respect to, one of their favourite dogs than he ever did to his
first officer." This is probably a spiteful exaggeration, but it is
certain that Norton, although a man of ability, was not very popular.
His great desire was to excite admiration for his skilful use of
drugs. "He always," declared one of the Governor's enemies, "kept
about him a box of poison to administer to those who refused him their
wives or daughters." With all these bad qualities, no man took greater
pains to inculcate virtue, morality and continence upon others; always
painting in the most glaring colours the jealous and revengeful
disposition of the Indians, when any attempt was made to violate the
chastity of their wives and daughters.

His apartments at the fort were not only convenient, but had some
pretensions to elegance, and were always crowded with his favourites.
As this Governor advanced in years, his jealousy increased, and it is
said he actually poisoned two of his women because he thought they had
transferred their affections elsewhere. He had the reputation of being
a most notorious smuggler; but though he put many thousands into the
pockets of the Company's captains, he seldom put a shilling into his
own.

FOOTNOTES:

[71] From the good opinion we entertain of you, and Mr. Norton's
recommendation, we have agreed to raise your wages to £130 per annum
for two years, and have placed you in our council at Prince of Wales'
Fort; and we should have been ready to advance you to the command of
the _Charlotte_, according to your request, if a matter of more
immediate consequence had not intervened.

Mr. Norton has proposed an inland journey, far to the north of
Churchill, to promote an extension of our trade, as well as for the
discovery of a north-west passage, copper mines, etc.; and as an
undertaking of this nature requires the attention of a person capable
of taking an observation for determining the longitude and latitude
and also distances, and the course of rivers and their depths, we have
fixed upon you (especially as it is represented to us to be your own
inclination) to conduct this journey with proper assistants.

We therefore hope you will second our expectations in readily
performing this service, and upon your return we shall willingly make
you any acknowledgment suitable to your trouble therein.

We highly approve of your going in the _Speedwell_ to assist in the
whale-fishery last year, and heartily wish you health and success in
the present expedition.

          We remain your loving friends,

     Bibye Lake, Deputy Governor.
     John Anthony Merle.
     Robert Merry.
     Samuel Wegg.
     James Winter Lake.
     Herman Berens.
     Joseph Sparrel.
     James FitzGerald.


[72] "No man," says Hearne, "either English or Indian, ever found a
bit of copper in that country to the south of the seventy-first degree
of latitude, unless it had been accidentally dropped by some of the
far northern Indians on their way to the Company's factory."

[73] "This leader," says Hearne, "when a youth, resided several years
at the above Fort and was not only a perfect master of the Southern
Indian language, but by being frequently with the Company's servants
had acquired several words of English and was one of the men who
brought the latest accounts of the Coppermine River. It was on his
information, added to that of one I-dot-le-ezry (who is since dead),
that this expedition was set on foot."

[74] "I cannot sufficiently regret," wrote Hearne in 1796, "the loss
of a considerable vocabulary of the northern Indian language,
containing sixteen folio pages, which was lent to the late Mr.
Hutchins, then corresponding secretary to the Company, to copy for
Captain Duncan, when he went on discoveries to Hudson's Bay in the
year 1790. But Mr. Hutchins dying soon after, the vocabulary was taken
away with the rest of his effects and cannot now be recovered, and
memory, at this time, will by no means serve to replace it."

[75] The Company had previously written thus to its servant, Mr.
Samuel Hearne:--

Sir,--Your letter of the 28th August last, gave us the agreeable
pleasure to hear of your safe return to our factory. Your journal and
the two charts you sent sufficiently convinces us of your very
judicious remarks.

We have, naturally, considered your great assiduity in the various
accidents which occurred in your several journeys. We hereby return
you our grateful thanks, and to manifest our obligation we have
consented to allow you a gratuity of £200 for those services.

[76] "Mr. Dalrymple, in one of his pamphlets relating to Hudson's Bay,
has been so very particular in his observations on my journey, as to
remark that I have not explained the construction of the quadrant
which I had the misfortune to break in my second journey to the North.
It was a Hadley quadrant, with a bubble attached to it for a horizon,
and made by Daniel Scatlif, of Wapping."--_Hearne._




CHAPTER XXVI.

1773-1782.

     Company Suffers from the Rivalry of Canadians -- Cumberland
     House built -- Debauchery and license of the Rivals --
     Frobisher Intercepts the Company's Indians -- The Smallpox
     Visitation of 1781 -- La Pérouse appears before Fort Prince of
     Wales -- Hearne's Surrender -- Capture of York Fort by the
     French -- The Post Burned and the Company's Servants carried
     away Prisoners.


The Company was not immediately advised of the ruinous proceedings of
the Montreal traders by its governors at York and Churchill. But at
length the diminution of trade became marked. The Indians continued to
bring in reports of other white traders speaking English, who
intercepted them and gave them trinkets and rum in exchange for their
furs. They declared they were conscious of having made a bad bargain
in not continuing onward to the Company's posts, but what could they
do? "The _Bostonnais_[77] was cunning and he deceived the Indian." At
last, in view of this, it was felt that further delay were folly.

[Sidenote: Cumberland House built.]

In the spring of 1773 instructions were sent out to Governor Norton to
despatch Hearne westward and establish a post in the interior. By this
time the rival Canadian traders had carried the trade beyond the
French limits, although, for reasons to be disclosed, all their
activity was in vain, so far as material results either to themselves
or their employers or capitalists were concerned, not to mention the
aborigines themselves.

Hearne hit upon what he considered a good site for the new post at
Sturgeon Lake, on the eastern bank, in latitude 53°, 56 and longitude
102°, 15. The post prospered almost from its foundation. The
neighbouring tribes found that here were to be procured a larger and
better assortment of goods than the Canadians brought them, and
frequented it in preference.[78]

For several years now a trade with the Indians had been carried on in
the footsteps of the French license-holders.

  [Illustration: VISIT TO AN INDIAN ENCAMPMENT.]

What was to be expected when the character of the Montreal traders
themselves, and the commerce they prosecuted, was considered, soon
happened. This army of half-wild men, armed to the teeth, unhampered
by legal restraint, constantly drinking, carousing and quarrelling
amongst themselves, gradually spread over the north-west, sowing crime
and anarchy wherever they went. The country they traded in was so
distant, and their method of transportation so slow, that they were
fortunate if they reached their winter quarters without leaving the
corpses of several of their number to mark their path.

Was it singular that trade carried on in such a fashion, and with
results so ruinous, should cause the "partners," as these unhappy
individuals, who had furnished the funds, were called, to contemplate
the future with dismay? Season after season the "winterers" returned
to the Grand Portage with the same tale; and season after season were
better profits promised, but never, alas, for their dupes, were these
promises fulfilled!

[Sidenote: Frobisher intercepts Company's Indians.]

Matters were thus going from bad to worse in this way, when one sober
and enterprising trader, Joseph Frobisher, resolved to leave the
beaten track and penetrate nearer to the Company's Factory, at
Churchill, than had yet been done. In the spring of 1775, as a band of
Indians were on their way as usual to Prince of Wales' Fort, they were
met by Frobisher, who caused them to halt and to drink and smoke with
him. The chiefs imagined he was one of the Company's factors, and
Frobisher did not choose to undeceive them. His wares being of a
better quality than those of his compeers, the Indians suffered
themselves to be persuaded to trade on the spot, which was at a
portage afterwards called by the Montreal traders La Traite, on
account of this episode. The Indians, nevertheless, resumed their
journey to Churchill River, where the indignation of Hearne and the
Council knew no bounds. He informed the Indians that a "scurvy trick"
had been played upon them; and so characterized it in his journal. A
few having still some of the heavier furs by them, were paid double,
as an encouragement to their future discrimination. Nevertheless, in
spite of all, the "scurvy trick" was repeated by Frobisher the
following year, both times securing enormous booty.[79]

The difficulties and sufferings of these two undertakings, however,
affected him with a distaste for a repetition; but he sent his brother
Benjamin to explore the region still farther. This he accomplished,
going as far west as the Lake of Isle a la Crosse.

The difficulties of transport are pointed out in letters of Frobisher
and McGill. The value of each canoe load, on arrival at
Michilimackinac, had been estimated, in 1780, to be £660 currency,
equal to $2,640, showing the cost of transport by the Ottawa to have
been $640 for each canoe; the value at Montreal having been $2,000. In
April, 1784, Benjamin Frobisher wrote that twenty-eight canoes were
ready to be sent off, valued at £20,000 currency, or $80,000, a sum
for each canoe largely in excess of the estimate of four years before.

Frobisher's success in intercepting the Company's Indians induced
others to attempt a similar course. The idea was, of course, to give
goods of a better character, and to travel so far into the savage
country as to relieve the Indian, who always contemplated the annual
journey to the Company's post with repugnance of such necessity. In
1779 Peter Pond, an able, but desperate character, was the first to
attempt storing such goods as he could not bring back immediately, in
one of the wintering huts at Elk River, against his return the
following season. This imitation of a Company's post proved
successful, and led to its being repeated on a larger scale.

But matters were not equally propitious with the vast bulk of the
peddlers, bushrangers, swashbucklers, and drunken half-breeds who were
comprised in the Canadian trading fraternity. A numerous crew of them
got from their winter quarters at Saskatchewan to the Eagle Hills in
the spring of 1780. Here they held high carouse amidst a body of
Indians as drunken, and much more noisy and abandoned, as themselves.
One of the traders becoming tired of the continued application of an
Indian for more grog, gave him a dose of laudanum. The savage
thereupon staggered a few steps away, lay down and died. A cry went up
from the man's wives, a skirmish ensued, and the sun went down on
seven corpses. One of the traders, two of his men, and four half-breed
voyageurs lost their lives, and the rest were forced to abandon their
all and take to flight.

  [Illustration: INDIAN TRAPPERS.
   (_From "Picturesque Canada," by permission._)]

The same spring, two of the Canadian posts on the Assiniboine River
were assailed during a quarrel. Several white men and a large number
of Indians were killed.

[Sidenote: Terrible smallpox epidemic.]

The fearful act of vengeance which might now have been meditated at
this juncture was never carried out, for in 1781 an epidemic of
smallpox broke out, wreaking a memorable destruction upon all the
Indians of Rupert's Land.

It is worthy of remark, the extraordinary and fatal facility with
which this disease had always made headway among the aborigines of the
North American continent. There must have been some predisposition in
their constitutions which rendered them an easy prey to this scourge
of Europe. Later, when the boon, brought into Europe by Lady Mary
Montague arrested and partially disarmed the monster, smallpox had
wrought unmitigated havoc amongst whole tribes and circles of the Red
men, more than decimating the entire population and occasionally
destroying whole camps, while leaving scarcely more than one
shrivelled hag to relate to the Company's factors the fell tale of
destruction.

The scourge which depopulated vast regions naturally cleared the
country of white traders. Two parties did, indeed, set out from
Montreal in 1781-82, with the avowed intention of making permanent
settlements on Churchill River and at Athabasca. But the smallpox had
not yet done its worst, and drove them back with only seven packages
of beaver. This season was a better one than the preceding for the
Company's factories; but an event now happened scarcely foreseen by
anyone. England and France had been again at war, but none had as yet
dreamt of a sea attack on the Company's posts in the Bay. Such a thing
had not happened for upwards of eighty years, and the conquest of
Canada seemed to so preclude its probability that the Adventurers had
not even instructed its governors to be on the alert for a possible
foe.

Up to the era of the terrible smallpox visitation in 1782, the remote
Chippewas and far-off tribes from Athabasca and the Great Slave Lake,
travelling to Prince of Wales' Fort, must have gazed with wonder at
its solid masonry and formidable artillery. The great cannon whose
muzzles stared grimly from the walls had already been woven into
Indian legend, and the Company's factors were fond of telling how the
visiting Red men stood in astonishment for hours at a time before this
fortress, whose only parallel on the continent was Quebec itself.

[Sidenote: French attack Fort Prince of Wales, 1782.]

Fort Prince of Wales had been built, as we have seen, at a time when
the remembrance of burned factories and posts easily captured and
pillaged by French and Indians was keen amongst the Honourable
Adventurers. But that remembrance had long since faded; the reasons
for which the fort had been built had seemingly vanished. Wherefore
gradually the garrison waned in numbers, until on the 8th of August,
1782, only thirty-nine defenders[80] within its walls witnessed the
arrival of three strange ships in the Bay. Instantly the word ran from
mouth to mouth that they were three French men-of-war. All was
consternation and incredulity at first, quickly succeeded by anxiety.
Two score pair of English eyes watched the strangers, as pinnace, gig
and long-boat were lowered, and a number of swarthy whiskered sailors
began busily to sound the approaches to the harbour. As may be
believed, an anxious night was passed in the fort by Governor Samuel
Hearne and his men. Daybreak came and showed the strangers already
disembarking in their boats, and as the morning sun waxed stronger, an
array of four hundred troops was seen to be drawn up on the shore of
Churchill Bay, at a place called Hare Point. Orders were given to
march, and with the flag of France once more unfurled on these distant
sub-Arctic shores, the French attacking party approached the Company's
stronghold.

When about four hundred yards from the walls they halted, and two
officers were sent on ahead to summon the Governor to surrender. The
French ships turned out to be the _Sceptre_, seventy-four guns, the
_Astarte_, and the _Engageante_, of thirty-six guns each, and the
force possessed besides four field guns, two mortars, and three
hundred bomb-shells. This fleet was in command of Admiral Pérouse.

It appears that La Pérouse had counted on arriving just in time to
secure a handsome prize in the Company's ships, for which he had lain
in wait in the Bay. Hearne seems to have been panic-stricken and
believed resistance useless.

To the surprise of the French, a table cloth snatched up by the
Governor was soon seen waving from the parapet of the fort. Fort
Prince of Wales had thus yielded without a shot being fired on either
side.

The French admiral lost no time in transporting what guns he could
find to his ships, and replenishing his depleted commissariat from the
well-filled provision stores of the fort.[81]

La Pérouse was both angry and disappointed at the escape of the
Company's ships and cargoes. One of these ships, bound for Fort
Churchill, he had met in the Bay and immediately sent a frigate in
pursuit. But Captain Christopher, by the steering of the French
frigate, judged rightly that her commander knew nothing of the
course, and so resorted to strategy. When night came he furled his
sails, as if about to anchor, a proceeding which the French captain
imitated. When he had anchored, the Company's vessel re-set her sails,
and was soon many leagues distant by the time the French fleet reached
Churchill River.

Possession was followed by license on the part of the soldiers, and
the utter looting of the fort. An attempt was made, occupying two
days, to demolish it; but although French gunpowder was freely added
to the Company's store, yet the walls resisted their best efforts.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF FORT PRINCE OF WALES.]

Of solid masonry, indeed, was Prince of Wales' Fort. The French
artillerymen could only displace the upper rows of the massive granite
stones, dismount its guns, and blow up the gateway, together with the
stone outwork protecting it.

It has been remarked as strange that Hearne, who had proved his
personal bravery in his Arctic travels, should have shown such a
craven front on this occasion to the enemy.

Indeed, Umfreville, who was himself taken prisoner at the capture of
the fort, declared that he, with others, were disgusted at the
Governor's cowardice. He asserted that the French were weak and
reduced in health after a long sea voyage, most of them wretchedly
clad, and half of the entire number barefoot.

"I assume, your Honours," wrote John Townsend, "that had we shown a
front to the enemy, our fort would have outlasted their ammunition,
and then they would have been completely at our mercy."

[Sidenote: Hearne blamed for surrendering.]

The Company was very indignant at the conduct of Governor Hearne. They
demanded the reason of his not sending a scout overland to apprise the
Governor of York Factory of the enemy's proximity. To this Hearne
replied that he was given no opportunity, and that any such scout
would have been inevitably seized and slain.

On the 11th of August the French fleet set sail for Port Nelson and
anchored there. One of the Company's ships was in the harbour at the
time, and the captain, perceiving the approach of three large ships,
and scenting danger, put out to sea in the night. He was instantly
pursued by a frigate, which obviously outsailed him. Whereupon Captain
Fowler tacked and made for the south in the hope of enticing the
Frenchman into shallow water. But her commander was by no means to
become so easy a prey to destruction, and refused to follow.

On the following day the news was brought to the Governor that the
enemy was landing in fourteen boats, provided with mortars, cannon,
scaling ladders, and about three hundred men, exclusive of marines.

York Factory at this time was garrisoned by sixty English and twelve
Indians. Its defence consisted of thirteen cannon, twelve and nine
pounders, which formed a half-moon battery in front; but it being
thought probable that the enemy would arrive in the night and turn
these guns against the fort, they were overturned into the ditch. On
the ramparts were twelve swivel guns mounted on carriages, and within
were abundance of small arms and ammunition. Besides, a rivulet of
fresh water ran within the stockades; and there were also thirty head
of cattle and as many hogs within the confines of the fort.

On the 22nd, two Indian scouts were sent out to obtain intelligence;
these returned in about three hours with the information that, in
their judgment, the enemy were less than a league distant. Indeed they
had heard several guns fired in the neighbourhood of the fort; and at
sunset of that day all could plainly discern a large fire, presumably
kindled by the French about a mile and a half to the west.

[Sidenote: French attack York factory.]

At ten o'clock the next morning, the enemy appeared before the gates.
"During their approach," says one of those in the fort at the time, "a
most inviting opportunity offered itself to be revenged on our
invaders by discharging the guns on the ramparts, which must have done
great execution."

Unhappily, the Governor was hardly the man for such an occasion. He
knew nothing of war, and had a wholesome dread of all armed and
equipped soldiery. He trembled so that he could scarcely stand, and
begged the surgeon, "for God's sake to give him a glass of liquor to
steady his nerves." There being none at hand, he swallowed a tumbler
of raw spirits of wine. This so far infused courage and determination
into his blood, that he peremptorily declared he would shoot the first
man who offered to fire a gun. Dismay took possession of many of the
Company's servants, and the second in command and the surgeon
endeavoured to expostulate. To avert this, the Governor caught up a
white sheet with his own hand and waved it from a window of the fort.
This was answered by the French officer displaying his pocket
handkerchief.

Under the sanction of this flag of truce, a parley took place. The
Governor was summoned to surrender within two hours.

But no such time was needed by the Governor; and the fort was most
ingloriously yielded in about ten minutes. In vain did the council
plead that this fort might have withstood the united efforts of double
the number of those by whom it was assailed in an attack with small
arms. In vain they demonstrated that from the nature of the enemy's
attack by way of Nelson River, they could not use their mortars or
artillery, the ground being very bad and interspersed with woods,
thickets and bogs. The Governor was resolved to yield the place, and
he carried out his intention much to the astonishment and satisfaction
of La Pérouse.

[Sidenote: Unwise surrender.]

The unwisdom of the surrender was afterwards made too apparent. It was
made to a half-starved, half-shod body of Frenchmen, worn out by
fatigue and hard labour, not a man of whom was familiar with the
country. It was perceived also, when it was too late, that the enemy's
ships lay at least twenty miles from the factory, in a boisterous sea.
Consequently, they could not co-operate with their troops on shore,
save with the greatest difficulty and uncertainty, and if the fort had
held out a few weeks it would have been impossible. The French troops
could have received no supplies but what came from the ships; and
cold, hunger and fatigue were working hourly in favour of the
Company's men.

La Pérouse now issued orders for the fort to be evacuated and burned,
and the Company's people were taken prisoners.

The Company suffered great loss by the capture of York Factory, which
had, as we have seen, remained in their possession since the Treaty of
Utrecht. The whole of the furs which had not yet been sent on board
the ship were destroyed, as well as a large quantity of stores,
implements and appliances which had been collecting for nearly seventy
years.

This expedition had resulted in two cheap conquests for La Pérouse.
But the fortunes of war bade fair to alter the situation. The Company
sent in a bill to the British Government of many thousands of pounds
for failing to protect their fort on Churchill River; and when peace
was proclaimed, the French plenipotentiary agreed on behalf of his
master to settle this bill.

Fort Prince of Wales was never rebuilt. Its ruins stand, to-day, to
mark the most northern fortress on the continent of North America,
scarcely inferior in strength to Louisburg or to Quebec. "Its site,"
remarks Dr. Bell, "was admirably chosen; its design and armament were
once perfect; interesting still as a relic of bygone strife, but
useful now only as a beacon for the harbour it had failed to protect."
Although the French themselves sustained no loss from the English in
their brief campaign against the fort; yet, owing to the severity of
the climate and their own inexperience, they lost five large boats, a
considerable quantity of merchandise and fifteen soldiers who were
drowned in Hays' River after the surrender of the fort.

FOOTNOTES:

[77] The Eastern traders were always known by this title, as though
hailing from Boston, in contradistinction to the "King George men."

[78] Upon the new post was bestowed the name of Cumberland House.

[79] The following were the prices paid by the Company about 1780, at
its inland posts:--

     A gun                      20 Beaver skins.
     A strand blanket           10     do.
     A white do.                 8     do.
     An axe of one pound weight  3     do.
     Half a pint of gunpowder    1     do.
     Ten balls                   1     do.

The principal profits accrued from the sale of knives, beads, flint,
steels, awls and other small articles. Tobacco fetched one beaver skin
per foot of "Spencer's Twist," and rum "not very strong," two beaver
skins per bottle.

[80] "What folly," asks one of the Company's servants, "could be more
egregious than to erect a fort of such extent, strength and expense
and only allow thirty-nine men to defend it?"

[81] An account of Hearne's journey was found in MS. among the papers
of the Governor, and La Pérouse declares in his memoirs that Hearne
was very pressing that it should be returned to him as his private
property. "The goodness of La Pérouse's heart induced him to yield to
this urgent solicitation, and he returned the MS. to him on the
express condition, however, that he should print and publish it
immediately on his arrival in England." "Notwithstanding this,"
observes Mr. Fitzgerald, "Hearne's travels did not appear until 1795,
_i.e._, twenty-three years after they were performed." This gentleman,
so distinguished in his zeal to prove a case against the Company,
evidently overlooks the circumstance of the gist of travels having
been issued in pamphlet form in 1773 and again in 1778-80. The volume
of 1795 was merely an application--the product of Hearne's leisure
upon retirement.




CHAPTER XXVII.

1783-1800.

     Disastrous Effects of the Competition -- Montreal Merchants
     Combine -- The North-Westers -- Scheme of the Association --
     Alexander Mackenzie -- His two Expeditions Reach the Pacific --
     Emulation Difficult -- David Thompson.


[Sidenote: Competition of the Canadian traders.]

For many years up to 1770, before the traders from Canada had
penetrated their territory, York Factory had annually sent to London
at least 30,000 skins. There were rarely more than twenty-five men
employed in the fort at low wages. In 1790 the Company maintained
nearly one hundred men at this post, at larger wages, yet the number
of skins averaged only about 20,000 from this and the other posts. The
rivalry daily grew stronger and more bitter. Yet from what has been
seen of the habits and character of the Canadian bushrangers and
peddlers, it is almost unnecessary to say that the Company's Scotchmen
ingratiated themselves more into the esteem and confidence of the
Indians wherever and whenever the two rivals met. The advantage of
trade, it has been well said, was on their side--because their honesty
was proven. But there was another reason for the greater popularity of
the Company amongst the natives, and it was that the principal
articles of their trading goods were of a quality superior to those
imported from Canada.

The extraordinary imprudence and ill-manner of life which
characterized the Montreal traders continually offset the enterprise
and exertions of their employers. Many of these traders had spent the
greater portion of their lives on this inland service; they were
devoid of every social and humane tie, slaves to the most corrupting
vices, more especially drunkenness. So that it is not strange that
they were held in small esteem by the Indians, who, a choice being
free to them, finding themselves frequently deceived by specious
promises, were not long in making up their minds with whom to deal.

"Till the year 1782," says Mackenzie, "the people of Athabaska sent or
carried their furs regularly to Fort Churchill, and some of them have
since that time repaired farther, notwithstanding they could have
provided themselves with all the necessaries which they required. The
difference of the price set on goods here and at the factory, made it
an object with the Chippewans to undertake a journey of five or six
months, in the course of which they were reduced to the most painful
extremities, and often lost their lives from hunger and fatigue. At
present, however, this traffic is, in a great measure, discontinued,
as they were obliged to expend in the course of their journey, that
very ammunition which was its most alluring object."

[Sidenote: Montreal merchants combine.]

But the Company was now threatened with a more determined and
judicious warfare by the better class of Canadian traders. The
enterprise had been checked, first by the animosity of the Indians,
and at the same time by the ravages of the smallpox, but during the
winter of 1783-4, the Montreal merchants resolved, for the better
prosecution of their scheme, to effect a junction of interests, by
forming an association of sixteen equal shares, without, however,
depositing any capital. The scheme was to be carried out in this way:
Each party was to furnish a proportion of such articles as were
necessary in the trade, while the actual traders, or "wintering
partners," of these merchants were to receive each a corresponding
share of the profits. To this association was given, on the suggestion
of Joseph Frobisher, the name of the North-West Company. The chief
management of the business was entrusted to the two Frobishers and
Simon McTavish, another Scotch merchant in Montreal.

In May, 1784, accordingly, Benjamin Frobisher and McTavish went to the
Grand Portage with their credentials from the other partners in the
new undertaking. Here they met the bulk of the traders and voyageurs,
who were delighted to hear of the new scheme. These entered heartily
into the spirit of the undertaking, and that spring embarked for the
west with the merchandise and provisions brought them, with a lighter
heart than they had known for years, and with a determination to
profit by the disasters of the past. Not all of the chief traders, it
must be said, cast in their lots with the new company. Two, named Pond
and Pangman, opposed it; and finding a couple of merchants who were
willing to furnish sufficient capital, resolved to strike out for
themselves as rivals to the North-West company. This action
occasioned, as might be expected, great bitterness and disorder.
Nevertheless, it was the means of bringing to light a young Scotchman
from the Isles, whose name will be forever linked with the North-West.
His name was Alexander Mackenzie.

[Sidenote: Alexander Mackenzie.]

This young man had been for five years in the counting-house of
Gregory, one of the merchants who had allied themselves with the two
malcontents. It was now decided that Mackenzie should set out with
Pond and Pangman in their separate trading venture into the distant
Indian country. A more perilous business than this can scarcely be
imagined. Besides the natural difficulties, the party had to encounter
all the fiercest enmity and opposition of which the adherents of the
new association were capable. It is enough to say that after a fearful
struggle they forced the latter to allow them a participation in the
trade. But the feat which resulted in the coalition of the two
interests in 1787 cost them dear. One of the partners was killed,
another lamed for life, and many of their voyageurs injured. Yet the
establishment thus joined, and shorn of all rivals save the Great
Company, was placed on a solid basis, and the fur-trade of Canada
began to assume greater proportions than it had yet done under the
English _régime_. As this North-West concern was finally itself to
merge into the Company of which these chapters are the history, it
will not be unprofitable to glance at its constitution and methods,
particularly as the economic fabric was to be likewise transferred and
adapted to its Hudson's Bay rival.

  [Illustration: SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.]

[Sidenote: The North-West company.]

It was then, and continued to be, merely an association of merchants
agreeing among themselves to carry on the fur-trade by itself,
although many of these merchants plied other commerce. "It may be
said," observes Mackenzie, "to have been supported entirely on credit;
for whether the capital belonged to the proprietor, or was borrowed,
it equally bore interest, for which the association was annually
accountable." The company comprised twenty shares unequally divided
and amongst the parties concerned. "Of these a certain proportion was
held by the people who managed the business in Canada and were styled
agents for the company. Their duty was to import the necessary goods
from England, store them at their own expense at Montreal, get them
made up into articles suited to the trade, pack and forward them and
supply the cash that might be wanting for the outfits." For all this
they received, besides the profit on their shares, an annual
commission on the business done. A settlement took place each year,
two of the partners going to Grand Portage to supervise affairs of
that growing centre, now outrivalling Detroit, Michilimackinac and
Sault Ste. Marie. The furs were seen safely to the company's warehouse
in Montreal, where they were stored pending their shipment to England.
This class were denominated agents for the concern.

Then there was the other proprietary class--the actual traders, who
conducted the expeditions amongst the Indians and furnished no
capital. If they did amass capital by the trade they could invest it
in the company through the agents, but could never employ it
privately. There were several who from long service and influence who
had acquired double shares and these were permitted to retire from
activity, leaving one of such shares to whichever young man in the
service they chose to nominate, provided always he was approved by the
company. Such successions, we are told, were considered as due to
either seniority or exceptional merit. The retiring shareholder was
relieved from any responsibility concerning the share he transferred
and accounted for it according to the annual value or rate of the
property. Thus the trader who disposed of his extra share had no
pecuniary advantage from the sale, but only drew a continuous profit
from the share which as a sleeping partner he retained.

[Sidenote: Partnership regulations.]

By such means all the younger men who were not provided for at the
inception of the North-West company, or when they afterwards entered
into service, were likely to succeed to the situation and profits of
regular partners in the concern. By their contract they entered the
company's service as articled clerks for five or seven years.
Occasionally they succeeded to shares before the expiration of their
apprenticeship. None could be admitted as a partner unless he had
first served such apprenticeship to the fur-trade, therefore shares
were transferable only to the concern at large. As for the sleeping
partner he could not, of course, be debarred from selling out if he
chose, but if the transaction were not countenanced by the rest, his
name continued to figure in committee, the actual owner of the share
being regarded as merely his agent or attorney. A vote accompanied
every share, two-thirds constituting a majority.

Such, in brief, was the remarkable constitution of this commercial
body--a constitution which was in those days wholly unique. By such
regular and equitable methods of providing for all classes of
employees, a zeal and independence was fostered. Every petty clerk
felt himself, as he was, a principal, and his loyalty and thrift
became assured forthwith.

It has been argued, and not unjustly, that such a constitution was
obvious, that no great merit need be ascribed to its originators, that
it was evolved, so to speak, by the situation itself. The character of
the fur-trade at that time was such, the commerce so hazardous and
diffused over so vast a country, that without that spirit of emulation
thus evoked the new fur company must quickly have resolved itself into
its constituent particles. Nevertheless, shrewdness, courage and
foresight were demanded, and in the persons of these Canadian
Scotchmen were forthcoming.

As for the value of the business in 1788, all the furs, merchandise,
provisions and equipments were worth the sum of £40,000. This might
properly be called the stock of the Company, for, as Mackenzie, who
was now one of its traders, remarked, it included, within the gross
expenditure for that year, the amount of the property unexpended,
which having been appropriated for that year's adventure, was carried
on to the account of the next season.

So greatly did the new Company flourish that the gross amount of the
adventure ten years later, was close upon £125,000. But in that year,
1798, a change was to occur which will be dealt with in another
chapter.

[Sidenote: Mackenzie's expedition to the Arctic.]

In 1789 Mackenzie felt the time ripe to prosecute a journey towards
which his mind had long been directed--that journey overland to the
Pacific, in which Verandrye, as we have seen, had failed through the
hand of death. His commercial associates by no means relished the
enterprise; but Mackenzie's power and influence had now grown
considerable, and he found means this year to carry out his wish. On
the 3rd of June, 1789, Mackenzie set out from Fort Chipewyan, at the
head of Athabaska Lake, a station nearly midway between Hudson's Bay
and the Pacific.

The young explorer had served here for eight years, and was familiar
with the difficulties he had to face, as well as aware of the best
methods of overcoming them. Taking with him four canoes, he embarked a
German and four Canadians with their wives in the first. The second
canoe was occupied by a northern Indian, called English Chief, who had
been a follower of Matonabee, Hearne's chief guide and counsellor.
This worthy was accompanied by his two wives. The third was taken up
by two sturdy young savages, who served in the double capacity of
hunters and interpreters; whilst the fourth was laden with provisions,
clothing, ammunition, and various articles designed as presents to the
Indians. This canoe was in charge of one of the North-West concern's
clerks, named La Roux.

In such fashion and in such numbers did Mackenzie's party set forth
from Fort Chipewyan. By the 4th of June they reached Slave River,
which connects the Athabasca and Slave Lakes in a course of about 170
miles; on the 9th of the same month they sighted Slave Lake itself.
During this part of the journey they had suffered no other
inconvenience than those arising from the attacks of the mosquitoes
during the heat of the day and the excessive cold, which characterizes
the nights in that country, especially in the hours near dawn.

Skirting the shore they came to a lodge of Red Knife Indians, so
called from their use of copper knives. One of these natives offered
to conduct Mackenzie to the mouth of that river which was the object
of his search, as the Coppermine had been of Hearne's. Unhappily, so
numerous were the impediments encountered from drift ice, contrary
winds, and the ignorance of their guide (whom English Chief threatened
to murder for his incompetence), that it was the 29th of the month
before they embarked upon the stream which to-day bears the name of
the leader of the party who then first ascended it.

[Sidenote: Journey down the Mackenzie River.]

On quitting the lake, the Mackenzie River was found to take its course
to the westward, becoming gradually narrower for twenty-four miles,
till it dwindled to a stream half a mile wide, having a strong current
and a depth of three and a half fathoms. A stiff breeze from the
eastward now drove them on at a great speed, and after a run of ten
miles the channel widened gradually until it assumed the appearance of
a small lake. The guide confessed that this was the limit of his
acquaintance with the river. Soon afterwards they came in sight of the
chain of Horn Mountains, bearing north-west, and experienced some
difficulty in resuming the channel of the river. The party continued
the journey for five days with no interruption. On July 6th they
observed several columns of smoke on the north bank and on landing
discovered an encampment of five families of Slave and Dog-ribbed
Indians, who, on the first appearance of the white men, fled in
consternation to the woods. English Chief, however, called after them,
in a tongue they understood, and they, though reluctantly, responded
to his entreaties to return, especially when they were accompanied by
offers of gifts. The distribution of a few beads, rings and knives,
with a supply of grog, soon reconciled them to the strangers. But the
travellers were somewhat appalled to learn from these Indians of the
rigours of the journey which awaited them. These asserted that it
would require several winters to reach the sea, and that old age would
inevitably overtake the party before their return. Demons of terrible
shape and malevolent disposition were stated to have their dwellings
in the rock caves which lined the river's brim, and these were ready
to devour the hardy spirits who should dare continue their journey
past them. This information Mackenzie and his party endeavoured to
receive with equanimity; they staggered more at the narrative of two
impassable falls which were said to exist about thirty days march from
where they then were.

But although the effect of these tales on the leader of the expedition
was not great, his Indians, already weary of travelling, drank all in
with willing ears. They could hardly be induced to continue the
journey. When their scruples were overcome, one of the Dog-ribbed
Indians was persuaded by the present of a kettle, an axe, and some
other articles, to accompany them as guide. But, alas, when the hour
for embarkation came, his love of home overbore all other
considerations, and his attempt to escape was only frustrated by
actually forcing him on board.

Continuing their journey, they passed the Great Bear Lake River, and
steering through numerous islands came in sight of a ridge of snowy
mountains, frequented, according to their guide, by herds of bears and
small white buffalo. The banks of the river were seen to be pretty
thickly peopled with natives, whose timidity was soon overcome by
small gifts. From these Indians was procured a seasonable supply of
hares, partridges, fish and reindeer. The same stories of spirits or
manitous which haunted the stream, and of fearful rapids which would
dash the canoes in pieces, were repeated by these tribes. This time
they had a real effect. The guide, during a storm of thunder and
lightning, decamped in the night, and no doubt fled for home as
rapidly as his legs, or improvised canoe, could carry him. No great
difficulty, however, was experienced in procuring a substitute, and
after a short sail the party approached an encampment of Indians,
whose brawny figures, healthy appearance, and cleanliness were a great
improvement on the other tribes they had seen. From these Mackenzie
learnt that he must sleep ten nights before arriving at the sea. In
three nights, he was told, he would meet with Esquimaux, with whom
they had been at war, but were now at peace.

It was evident that none in these parts had ever heard the sound of
fire-arms for, when one of Mackenzie's men discharged his
fowling-piece, the utmost terror took possession of them.

When this intrepid pioneer through the lands of the Hudson's Bay
Company had reached a latitude of 67° 47´, a great range of snowy
mountains burst into view. Mackenzie, by this time, was convinced that
the waters on which the four frail barks were gliding must flow into
the Arctic Ocean.

When within a few days of accomplishing the great object of the
journey, the attendant Indians sunk into a fit of despondency and were
reluctant to proceed. The new guide pleaded his ignorance of the
region, as he had never before penetrated to what he and his fellows
termed the Benahulla Toe.[82] Mackenzie, thereupon, assured them all
that he would return if it were not reached in seven days, and so
prevailed on them to continue the journey.

The nights were now illumined by a blazing sun and everything denoted
the proximity of the sea. On landing at a deserted Esquimaux
encampment, several pieces of whalebone were observed; also a place
where train-oil had been spilt. Signs of vegetation grew rarer and
rarer.

[Sidenote: The explorer reaches the Arctic.]

On the 12th of July the explorer reached what appears to have been an
arm of the Arctic Sea. It was quite open to the westward, and by an
observation the latitude was found to be 69°. All before them, as far
as they could see, was a vast stretch of ice. They continued their
course with difficulty fifteen miles to the western-most extremity of
a high island, and then it was found impossible to proceed farther.
Many other islands were seen to the eastward; but though they came to
a grave, on which lay a bow, a paddle and a spear, they met no living
human beings in those Arctic solitudes. The red fox and the reindeer,
flocks of beautiful plover, some venerable white owls, and several
large white gulls were the only natives.

But Mackenzie knew he had triumphed; for he had, as he stood on the
promontory of Whale Island, caught sight of a shoal of those marine
night monsters from whom the island then received its name. Before
returning, Mackenzie caused a post to be erected close to the
tents, upon which the traveller engraved the latitude of the spot, his
own name, the number of persons accompanying him, and the time they
spent on the island.

  [Illustration: THE BUSHRANGER AND THE INDIANS.]

  [Illustration: A PORTAGE.]

On the 16th of July they set out on their long journey to the fort. On
the 21st, the sun, which for some time had never set, descended below
the horizon, and on that day they were joined by eleven of the
natives. These represented their tribe as numerous, and perpetually at
war with the Esquimaux, who had broken a treaty into which they had
seduced the Indians and had massacred many of them. On one occasion an
Indian of a strange tribe beyond the mountains to the west
endeavoured to draw for Mackenzie a map of that distant country with a
stick upon the sand. It was a rude production, but gave the explorer
an idea. The savage traced out a long point of land between two
rivers. This isthmus he represented as running into the great lake, at
the extremity of which, as he had been told by Indians of other
nations, there was built a Benahulla Couin, or White Man's Fort.

"This," says Mackenzie, "I took to be Oonalaska Fort, and consequently
the river to the west to be Cook's River, and that the body of water
or sea into which the river discharges itself at Whale Island
communicated with Norton Sound."

Mackenzie in vain endeavoured to procure a guide across the mountains;
the natives refused to accompany him. On the 12th of September the
party arrived in safety at Fort Chippewyan, having been absent one
hundred and two days.

Taken in connection with Hearne's journey, this expedition was of
great importance as establishing the fact of an Arctic sea of wide
extent to the north of the continent. It seemed probable, also, that
this sea formed its continuous boundary.

But the greater expedition of this intrepid fur-trader was yet to be
undertaken. His object this time was to ascend the Peace River, which
rises in the Rocky Mountains, and crossing these to penetrate to that
unknown stream which he had sought in vain during his former journey.
This river, he conjectured, must communicate with the ocean; and
finding it, he must be borne along to the Pacific.

[Sidenote: Mackenzie sets out for the Pacific.]

The explorer set out, accordingly, from Fort Chippewyan on the 10th of
October, 1792, pushing on to the remotest trading post, where he spent
the winter in a traffic for furs with the Beaver and Rocky Indians.
When he had despatched six canoes to Chippewyan with the cargo he had
collected, he engaged hunters and interpreters, built a huge canoe and
set out for the Pacific. This canoe, it may be mentioned, was
twenty-five feet long within, exclusive of the curves of stem and
stern, twenty-six inches hold and four feet nine inches beam. At the
same time it was so light that two men could carry it three or four
miles, if necessity arose, without stopping to rest. In such a slender
craft they not only stowed away their provisions, presents, arms,
ammunition and baggage to the weight of three thousand pounds, but
found room for Mackenzie, seven white companions and two Indians. Up
to the 21st of May the party encountered a series of such difficulties
and hardships that all save the leader himself were disheartened at
the prospect. The river being broken by frequent cascades and
dangerous rapids, it was very often necessary to carry the canoe and
baggage until the voyage could be resumed in safety; and on their
nearer approach to the Rocky Mountains the stream, hemmed in between
stupendous rocks, presented a continuance of fearful torrents and huge
cataracts. The party began to murmur audibly; and, at last, progress
came to a standstill. In truth, there was some reason for this
irresolution; further progress by water was impossible and they could
only advance over a mountain whose sides were broken by sharp, jagged
rocks and thickly covered with wood. Mackenzie despatched a
reconnoitring party, with orders to ascend the mountain and proceed in
a straight course from its summit, keeping the line of the river until
they could ascertain if it was practicable to resume navigation.

While this party was gone on its quest, the canoe was repaired, and
Mackenzie busied himself in taking an altitude which showed the
latitude to be 56° 8'. By sunset the scouts had severally returned,
each having taken different routes. They had penetrated through thick
woods, ascended hills and dived into valleys, passed the rapids, and
agreed, that though the difficulties by land were appalling, this was
the only practicable course. Unattractive as was the prospect, the
spirits of the party rose as night closed in. Their troubles were
forgotten in a repast of wild rice sweetened with sugar; the usual
evening regale of rum renewed their courage, and followed by a night's
rest, they entered upon the journey next day with cheerfulness and
vigour.

It is not to the purpose here to relate all that befell Mackenzie on
this memorable voyage, but, after many vicissitudes, towards the
close of June he reached the spot where the party were to strike off
across the country.

[Sidenote: Journey in the mountain.]

"We carried on our back," says Mackenzie, "four bags and a half of
pemmican, weighing from eighty-five to ninety-five pounds each, a case
with the instruments, a parcel of goods for presents weighing ninety
pounds, and a parcel containing ammunition of the same weight; each of
the Canadians had a burden of about ninety pounds, with a gun and
ammunition, whilst the Indians had about forty-five pounds weight of
pemmican, besides their gun--an obligation with which, owing to their
having been treated with too much indulgence, they expressed
themselves much dissatisfied. My own load, and that of Mr. Mackay,
consisted of twenty-two pounds of pemmican, some rice, sugar, and
other small articles, amounting to about seventy pounds, besides our
arms and ammunition. The tube of my telescope was also slung across my
shoulder, and owing to the low state of our provisions, it was
determined that we should content ourselves with two meals a day."

About the middle of July Mackenzie encountered a chief who had, ten
years before, in a voyage by sea, met with two large vessels full of
white men, the first he had ever seen and by whom he was kindly
received. The explorer very plausibly conjectured that these were the
ships of Captain Cook. Thus the names of two of the world's great
explorers were, by that episode, conjoined.

The navigation of the river, although interrupted by rapids and
cascades, was continued until the 23rd, when the party reached its
mouth. Here the river was found to discharge itself by various smaller
channels into the Pacific.

The memorable journey was now finished, and its purpose completed. In
large characters, upon the surface of a rock under whose shelter the
party had slept, their leader painted this simple memorial:

"Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by land the 22nd of July, one
thousand seven hundred and ninety-three."

Such was the inscription written with vermilion, at which doubtless
the simple aboriginal tribes came to marvel before it was washed away
by the elements. But its purport was conveyed to England in another
and more abiding character, which yet will not outlast the memory of
the achievement. Mackenzie and his followers had paved the way; almost
despite itself the Company must take possession, before long, of its
own; although much had arisen which rendered the task less easy than
if it had been undertaken immediately on the conquest, thirty years
before.

[Sidenote: Turner's exploration.]

The news of Mackenzie's journeys reaching London considerably
perturbed the Honourable Adventurers and undeniably diminished their
prestige. It was not that the Company did not wish to pursue discovery
and bring about a knowledge of the vast unknown regions which
appertained to it under the charter; it was for a long time
impracticable. In 1785 it had sent out orders to continue the
exploration of the west, begun by Hearne. A man had been despatched in
accordance with these instructions, but his courage, or his endurance,
had failed him, and he returned to Cumberland House without having
accomplished anything of note. For the five or six years ensuing, the
reports of the meetings of the Company are sufficient testimony to the
desire of the members to take an active part in seeking trade with
unknown tribes. But to effect this, men were necessary; and men of the
required character were not immediately forthcoming. It was not till
1791 that, after an animated correspondence with the Colonial Office,
a person was suggested for the enterprise who seemed to possess the
equipment adequate to the task. This was Turner, who sought a career
as an astronomer, and with him went Ross, one of the Company's clerks.
Both were badly furnished for an expedition of this kind, and taking
counsel among themselves, came to the conclusion that as they had to
make their way through parts unknown to the Hudson's Bay servants, it
would be as well to seek the assistance of the Northmen as well. From
Alexander Mackenzie, Turner obtained a letter to the factor in charge
of Fort Chippewyan, instructing him to offer the explorers every
facility and courtesy; and indeed so well were Turner and his
companion treated at this post that they passed the winter there. The
result of this expedition went to show that Lake Athabasca, instead of
being situated in proximity to the Pacific, was really distant nearly
a thousand miles.

There were men enough for the work in hand if the Company had only
availed themselves of them. At the very moment when Mackenzie was
making his voyages, a youth was finishing his education at the Charter
House who had all the cleverness, force and intrepidity for the task
that all desired to see accomplished. His name was David Thompson. The
time having arrived when this youth should choose a career, his
inclination turned to travel in the unknown quarters of the globe, and
hoping that adventure of some sort would transpire for him in the
north-west of the New World, he signed as one of the clerks of the
Company, and set sail in 1794 for Fort Churchill. Arriving here, he
found himself "cribbed, cabined and confined." Governor Colen and
himself were little to their mutual liking, and still less of the same
mind, as Thompson had an ardent, energetic temperament, and was with
difficulty controlled. Yet during the summer of 1795, by reason of
continuous pleadings, he obtained permission to set out on a tour to
the west, and with an escort of one white clerk, an Irishman, and two
Indians, he travelled to Athabasca, surveying the country as he went
along.

[Sidenote: David Thompson.]

On his return from Athabasca, Thompson's term of service had expired,
and he was encouraged to apply for employment with the Northmen. They
desired to learn the position of their trading houses, chiefly with
respect to the 49th parallel of latitude, which had become, since the
treaty of 1792 with America, the boundary line between the possessions
of the two countries. For several years Thompson continued in the
service of the Company's rivals, surveying a considerable territory
and drawing up charts and maps, which were sent to the partners at
Fort William.[83]

After Thompson came Simon Fraser and John Stuart, the names of both of
whom are perpetuated in the rivers bearing their names to-day. Fraser
is described by one of his associates as "an illiterate, ill-bred,
fault-finding man, of jealous disposition, but ambitious and
energetic, with considerable conscience, and in the main holding to
honest convictions."

Both these men bore a chief share in establishing trading posts on the
other side of the Rocky Mountains, which are now associated with the
Hudson's Bay Company.

FOOTNOTES:

[82] White Man's Lake.

[83] Of David Thompson we get a portrait from Mr. H. H. Bancroft. He
was, he says, "of an entirely different order of man from the orthodox
fur-trader. Tall and fine looking, with sandy complexion, with large
features, deep-set studious eyes, high forehead and broad shoulders,
the intellectual was set upon the physical. His deeds have never been
trumpeted as have those of some of the others; but in the westward
explorations of the North-West Company, no man performed more valuable
service or estimated his achievements more modestly. Unhappily his
last days were not as pleasant as fell to the lot of some of the worn
out members of the Company. He retired, almost blind, to Lachine
House, once the headquarters of the Company, where he was met with in
1831 in a very decrepit condition."




CHAPTER XXVIII.

1787-1808.

     Captain Vancouver -- La Pérouse in the Pacific -- The Straits
     of Anian -- A Fantastic Episode -- Russian Hunters and Traders
     -- The Russian Company -- Dissensions amongst the Northmen --
     They send the _Beaver_ to Hudson's Bay -- The Scheme of Mackenzie
     a Failure -- A Ferocious Spirit Fostered -- Abandoned
     Characters -- A series of Outrages -- The affair at Bad Lake.


When Mackenzie, in July, 1793, reached the Pacific by land from the
east, he had been preceded by sea only three years by Captain George
Vancouver, the discoverer of the British Columbian coast. The same
year Gray, sailing from Boston in 1790, entered the Columbia River
farther south. But the title of Muscovy to the northern coasts had
already been made good by several Russians since Bering's time, and
the Company's charter secured to them the lands drained by the Fraser,
Mackenzie, and Peace rivers, to the west.

[Sidenote: La Pérouse in the Pacific.]

So little, however, was the Russian title recognized for some time,
that when this unfortunate expedition of La Pérouse, with the frigates
_Boussole_ and _Astralabe_, stopped on this coast in 1787, that
doughty destroyer of York and Prince of Wales' Forts did not hesitate
to consider the friendly harbour in latitude 58° 36' as open to
permanent occupation. Describing this harbour, which he named Port des
François, he says that nature seemed to have created at this extremity
of the world a port like that of Toulon, but vaster in plan and
accommodation; and then, considering that it had never been discovered
before, that it was situated thirty-three leagues north-west of
Remedios, the limit of Spanish navigation, about two hundred and
eighty-four leagues from Nootka, and one hundred leagues from Prince
William Sound. The mariner records his judgment that "if the French
Government had any project of a factory on this coast no nation could
have the slightest right to oppose it."

  [Illustration: DE L'ISLE'S MAP, 1752.]

Thus was Russia to be coolly dislodged by the French! There is little
doubt but that the Company, judging by its declarations in committee
some years afterwards, would have had something to say in the matter.
But La Pérouse and his frigates sailed farther on in their voyage and
never returned to France. Their fate for a generation remained
unknown, until their shipwrecked hulls were accidentally found on a
desert island in the South Pacific. The unfinished journal of this
zealous admiral had, however, in the meantime been sent by him
overland by way of Kamschatka and Siberia to France, where it was
published by decree of the National Assembly, thus making known his
supposed discovery and his aspirations.

[Sidenote: Spanish claims.]

Spain also had been a claimant. In 1775 Bodega, a Spanish navigator,
seeking new opportunities to plant the Spanish flag, reached a
parallel of 58° on this coast, not far from Sitka; but this supposed
discovery was not followed by any immediate assertion of dominion. The
universal aspiration of Spain had embraced this whole region at a much
earlier day, and shortly after the return of Bodega another enterprise
was equipped to verify the larger claim, being nothing less than the
original title as discoverer of the straits between America and Asia,
and of the conterminous continent under the name of Anian. Indeed, a
Spanish document appeared, which caused a considerable fluttering of
hearts amongst the Adventurers, entitled "Relation of the Discovery of
the Strait of Anian made by me, Captain Lorenzo Ferren Maldonado,"
purporting to be written at the time, although it did not see the
light until 1781, when it immediately became the subject of a memoir
before the French Academy. This narrative of Maldonado has long since
taken its place with that of the celebrated Munchausen.

The whole fantastic episode of Anian's Straits is worthy of mention in
a history of the Company and its lands. There is no doubt of the
existence of early maps bearing straits of that name to the north. On
an interesting map by Zoltieri, bearing the date of 1566, without
latitude or longitude, the western coast of the continent is here
delineated with straits separating it from Asia, not unlike Bering's
Straits in outline and with the name in Italian, Stretto di Anian; and
towards the south the coast possesses a certain conformity to that
which we now know. Below the straits is an indentation corresponding
to Bristol Bay; then a peninsula somewhat broader than Alaska, which
is continued in an elbow of the coast; lower down appear three
islands, not unlike Sitka, Queen Charlotte and Vancouver; and lastly,
to the south appears the peninsula of Lower California. After a time
maps began to record the Straits of Anian; but the substantial
conformity of the early delineation with the reality has always been
somewhat of a mystery.[84]

The foundation of the story of Anian is said to lie in the voyage of
the Portuguese navigator, Caspar de Cortereal, in 1500-1505, who, on
reaching Hudson's Bay in quest of a passage to India, imagined he had
found it, naming his discovery "in honour of two brothers who
accompanied him."

[Sidenote: Russians on the west coast.]

Meanwhile Russian hunters and traders from Okhotsk were extending
their expedition from the north-east coast of Siberia to the
north-west coast of North America. A Russian Government expedition
started from Okhotsk in 1790, under the command of Captain Billings,
an Englishman in the Russian service, and to Captain Taryteheff, one
of the members, are due important researches on the hydrography and
ethnology of these countries. The first attempt at permanent
settlement was due to three Russian traders, Shelekoff and the two
Golikoffs, who fitted out two or three vessels to be sent to "the land
of Alaska, also called America; to islands known or unknown, for the
purpose of trading in furs; of exploring the country and entering into
relations with the inhabitants." Their first expedition started in
1781, and the first settlement was founded on the Island of Kodiak.
The authority of the Russian Government was thus established on this
and the adjacent islands. In 1790, Shelekoff, then residing in
Irkoutsk, sent out a merchant named Baranoff to govern the new
colony.[85]

Thus the knowledge that they were being pressed in on opposite sides
by the Canadian traders on the south and east, and by Russians on the
north and west, reached the Company at the same time. As a matter of
fact, the knowledge of Baranoff's enterprise and the energy with which
it was being prosecuted did not come before the committee until
October, 1794; and it was in that very month that the report of
Mackenzie's journey reached them.

The next few years were devoted to devising and considering schemes to
counteract these two growing competitors--to oppose the further
progress of the Russians on the one hand, and to combat the
North-Westers on the other.

For twenty-seven years Baranoff continued to be the controlling mind
of the new Russian trading enterprise. Shelekoff died in 1795; and his
widow continued the business, and upon combining with the Milnikoff
Company it increased gradually in wealth. The charter of these joint
enterprises, to which the name of the Russian-American Fur Company was
given, was signed in August, 1798, and confirmed at St. Petersburg in
1799. That year witnessed the settlement of New Archangel, on the
island of Sitka.

The consequences of this increased output were not, however, felt in
the fur-markets at Leipsic. Europe was convulsed by war, and Napoleon
had laid an embargo on British goods. The furs, therefore, accumulated
for several years in the stores of the Hudson's Bay Company without
finding a mart.

From 1787 to 1817, for only a portion of which time the Russian
Company existed, the Unalaska district yielded upwards of 2,500,000
seal skins alone. The number of other skins reported at times was
prodigious.

But the time had not come for the Company to actively assert itself in
opposition to the Russians.

It was paying dearly now for its short-sightedness in not availing
itself of the opportunities afforded by the conquest of Canada to
penetrate into its chartered domain. In the second year of the century
the Honourable Adventurers had been obliged to borrow £20,000 from the
Bank of England, hoping that the cessation of war in Europe, and the
quarrels of the rival Montreal traders in North America, would permit
the Company to regain the advantage it had lost. For in the autumn of
1798 the Company had received advices that its prosperous Canadian
rival had taken a new step in the conduct of its affairs.

[Sidenote: Rival factions in the North-West Company.]

Difficulties and dissensions had begun to breed in the ranks of the
Northmen. A few disaffected spirits spoke of secession and carried
their intentions into effect, but the stronger partners were reluctant
to break up an alliance which had proved so prosperous. But in the
closing year, but one of the century, the situation became intolerable
and when the partners met, as was their custom at the Grand Portage,
Mackenzie bluntly told his associates that he had resolved to quit the
Company. He was led to this decision by a personal quarrel between
himself and Simon McTavish, the chief of the North-West Company.
Opposing factions sprang into being, attaching themselves to both
Mackenzie and McTavish, the latter of whom strongly resented the way
in which he was treated at the annual meeting by the partisans of the
former, and each now determined to take his course thenceforward
untrammelled by the other. Mackenzie went to England, where he
published an account of his travels in the north-west and obtained the
honour of knighthood, and in 1801 returned to Canada. Here his friends
flocked about him, and there saw the light of a new organization,
officially entitled the New North-West Company, or Sir Alexander
Mackenzie & Co., but more popularly as the X. Y. Co. The two rival
Canadian associations now put forth all their strength to establish
their commerce in the unknown and unfrequented regions. One of the
old North-West employees, Livingston, who had already, in 1796,
established a post nearly 100 miles north of Slave Lake, undertook to
carry the trade still farther north. But this he was never destined to
accomplish. A few days out on this journey he was confronted by the
aborigines, who slew him and his companions. An expedition to the Bow
River, however, was more successful, and in the midst of many hostile
Indians a trading post was established there. Other proofs of
enterprise on the part of McTavish and his associates were not
wanting.

The dissensions between the two companies so far do not appear to have
had a prejudicial effect on the traffic, for on the 30th October,
1802, Lieutenant Governor Milnes, in a dispatch to Lord Hobart,[86]
gives an account of the flourishing state of the fur-trade which so
far, he says, from diminishing, appears to increase. New tracts of
country had been visited by the merchants employed in this traffic,
which had furnished new sources of supply, a large proportion of the
furs taken in the North-West being brought to Quebec for shipment.[87]

But, perhaps, a policy the most daring was pursued with regard to the
Hudson's Bay Company. It was not expected that either McTavish and his
allies, or the X. Y. concern would long be content to forego the
glory and profit attendant upon warfare at close quarters with the
Chartered Company.

"What is there in their charter," they asked themselves, "which gives
them benefits we cannot enjoy? We shall see."

[Sidenote: The Northmen at Hudson's Bay.]

They provided for a most effectual demonstration. In the spring of
1803, they sent the _Beaver_, a vessel of one hundred and fifty tons,
to Hudson's Bay, with instructions to exploit commerce under the very
guns of the Company's forts. Hardly had the _Beaver_ got under way
than an overland expedition was sent by the old French trading route
of Lakes St. Jean and Mistassini, to the same quarter. The result was
the construction of two posts, one on Charlton Island, and the other
at the mouth of Moose River. The astonishment of the Company's
servants can be imagined, when upon looking out one fine morning, they
beheld a band of swarthy half-breeds, captained by Orkneymen, rearing
premises adjacent to their own, and bidding defiance to the ancient
charter of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company. They were told by
their superiors not to be alarmed; the scheme of their rivals would
not succeed any more than had those of the Quebec companies who a
century before had sought to penetrate overland to the Bay. The
company could always undersell them then; and it could now, and did.
The confidence of the factors was justified, and the Indians merely
smiled at the Northmen and their goods, bidding them return to their
country, or betake themselves to the west, where the tribes were
ignorant and knew not the value of things. So, after a season or two,
the North-West concern abandoned Moose River and Charlton Island, and
sought other and more fruitful fields in the west.

[Sidenote: The Fishery and Fur Company.]

Mackenzie himself was in London actively engaged in promoting a scheme
of his own. He sought to get the British Government to constrain the
Hudson's Bay Company to grant licenses to a company of British
merchants, to be established in London under the name of "The Fishery
and Fur Company," which company, for the purpose of combining the
fishery in the Pacific with the fur trade of the interior from the
east to the west coasts of the Continent of North America, would at
once "equip whalers in England, and by means of the establishments
already made and in activity at Montreal on the east and advanced
posts and trading houses in the interior towards the west coast, to
which they might extend it and where other establishments to be made
at King George Sound, Nootka Island, under the protection of the
Supreme Government, and on the River Columbia and at Sea Otter Harbour
under the protection of the subordinate Government of these places,
would open and establish a commercial communication through the
Continent of North America between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to
the incalculable advantage and furtherance both of the Pacific Fishery
of America and American Fur Trade of Great Britain, in part directly
and in part indirectly, through the channel of the possessions and
factories of the East India Company in China," etc., "it being
perfectly understood that none of these maritime or inland
establishments shall be made on territory in the possession of any
other European nation, nor within the limits of the United States of
North America or of the Hudson's Bay Company." The scheme, however,
failed.

The death of McTavish, in 1804, brought about a reunion of the two
rival factions, and the North-West Company became stronger than ever.
They imitated the Chartered Company in establishing several of their
members in London as agents, who purchased the necessary merchandise
and saw it safely shipped, besides attending to the fur imports and
other regular business of the concern.

[Sidenote: Coalition of the North-West and X. Y. Companies.]

After the coalition of the old North-West and the X. Y. concern, and
the consequent suppression of all private adventurers in Canada, the
only rival of the Northmen in the Uplands was the Hudson's Bay
Company. It was alleged that thenceforward the ferocious spirit which
had been fostered among the clerks and servants of the two companies
by six years of continual violence was all turned against the Company.
It was said that not only was a systematic plan formed for driving
their traders out of all valuable beaver companies, but that hopes
were entertained of reducing the Company to so low an ebb as in time
to induce them to make over their chartered rights to their commercial
rival. With this intent, a series of aggressive acts was now begun and
carried on against the servants of the Company.

  [Illustration: THE RIVAL TRADERS.]

The Hudson's Bay Company had witnessed the encroachment of the
traders, first French, then English, as well as the establishment and
growth of the North-West association, without taking any active steps
to forcibly restrain them. Many years was the competition carried on
without any violent breach of the peace on either side. Oftentimes
indeed did the rival traders meet in the wilderness at a deserted
camp, or at some remote portage, but they bore no personal enmity in
their hearts. They shook hands, smoked, broke meat together, and
parted--one with his beaver skins to the east, the other to the
north--to Cumberland or York Factory. Doubtless the North-West concern
at the beginning of the century possessed a powerful advantage in the
system of profits and deserved promotion, while the Company's
servants, unstimulated by any hope of additional reward or certain
promotion, was calculated to foster apathy, rather than zeal.

[Sidenote: Murder of Labau.]

It was claimed by the Company that the Northmen employed for their
purposes men of the most abandoned character who, as Sir Alexander
Mackenzie expressed it, "considered the command of their employer as
binding on them, and however wrong or irregular the transaction the
responsibility rested with the principal who directed them." One of
the first instances of collision occurred in the year 1800. In that
year Frederick Schultz, a clerk of the old Company, commanded a post
near Nepigon. Amongst his men was a young lad about nineteen years of
age named Labau, who understood English, and had in the course of the
preceding winter become intimate with the servants of the Hudson's Bay
Company, who occupied a post near the same place. Labau was attracted
to the Company's service and, when the traders on both sides were
preparing to leave their wintering ground, resolved to go down to York
Factory. Intelligence of this having reached Schultz, he sent his
interpreter to order Labau to return to his duty, accompanied by a
reminder that he was in debt to the North-West Company. The young man
responded by offering to remit the money he owed the Company, but
declared that he would not remain any longer in its service. This
answer being reported to Schultz he vehemently declared that if the
scoundrel would not come back willingly he would know what to do with
him. The doughty Northman took his dagger, carefully whetted it, and
having dressed himself in his best attire, went over to the Hudson's
Bay post. Here he found Labau, and asked him in a furious tone whether
he would come with him. The young man, being intimidated, faltered out
an affirmative, but watching his opportunity sought to make his
escape out of the room, but Schultz was too quick for him. He drew his
dagger and aimed a blow which Labau tried in vain to avoid. He was
stabbed in the loin, and expired the same evening. After this exploit,
when Schultz returned to the assembly of the Northmen at the Grand
Portage, he met with an indifferent reception, Labau being rather
popular amongst his fellow-servants. It was, therefore, not thought
advisable to employ Schultz any longer in that quarter, although this
was the only notice taken of the murder. The murderer came down in the
canoes of the North-West concern to Montreal, where he remained at
large and unnoticed for months. He was afterwards taken into the
service of the Company, employed in a different region, and after
several years settled down undisturbed in Lower Canada.

  [Illustration: YORK FACTORY.
   (_From an old print._)]

There can be no doubt that much of the success of the Northmen was due
to the indiscriminate manner in which they extirpated the animals in
the country, destroying all without distinction, whether young or old,
in season or out of season. The miserable natives, over-awed by the
preparation and power of the strangers, and dreading the resentment of
the Northmen, witnessed this destruction without daring to resist,
although they complained bitterly that their country was wasted as if
it had been overrun by fire. It is well known that the best season for
hunting all the fur-bearing animals is the winter. The fur in summer
is universally of inferior quality, and this, too, is the season when
wild animals rear their young. For both these reasons it seemed
desirable that the hunting should be suspended during the summer
months, and this was effectually procured when all the best hunters,
all the young and active men of the Indian tribes, were engaged in a
distant excursion. There was consequently a material advantage in
requiring them to leave their hunting grounds in summer, and come to
the factories on the coast for a supply of European goods. While this
was the practice, no furs were brought from home but those of prime
quality, and as the beaver and other valuable fur-bearing animals were
protected from injury during the most critical time of the year, the
breed was preserved, and the supply was plentiful. But when the
traders came to the interior, there to remain throughout the year, the
Indians were tempted to conceal their hunts through the season. They
were too improvident to abstain from killing the breeding animals or
their young. The cub was destroyed with the full-grown beaver, and the
consequence might readily have been foreseen. These valuable animals,
formerly so numerous, rapidly approached the point of complete
extermination. It was observed that the district in which they once
abounded, and from which large supplies were formerly obtained, soon
came to produce few or none.

[Sidenote: Collision at Big Fall.]

In autumn, 1806, John Crear, a trader in the service of the Hudson's
Bay Company (also on the establishment of Albany Factory), occupied a
post at a place called Big Fall, near Lake Winipic. One evening a
party of Canadians in two canoes, commanded by Mr. Alexander
MacDonnell, then a clerk of the North-West Company, arrived, and
encamped at a short distance. On the following morning four of Crear's
men set out for their fishing grounds, about a mile off, immediately
after which Mr. MacDonnell came to the house with his men, and
charging Crear with having traded furs with an Indian who was indebted
to the North-West concern, insisted on these furs being given up to
him. On Crear's refusal, MacDonnell's men broke open the warehouse
door. William Plowman, the only servant that remained with Crear,
attempted to prevent them from entering; but one of the Canadians
knocked him down, while another presented a gun at Crear himself.
Although MacDonnell prevented him from firing, the Canadian struck
Crear in the eye with the butt end of his gun, which covered his face
with blood and felled him to the ground. Mr. MacDonnell himself
stabbed Plowman in the arm with a dagger, and gave him a dangerous
wound. The Canadians then rifled the warehouse; the furs, being taken
in summer, were of little value; but they carried off two bags of
flour, a quantity of salt pork and beef, and some dried venison, and
also took away a new canoe belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. In
the following February MacDonnell sent one of his junior clerks with a
party of men, who again attacked Crear's house, overpowered him, beat
him and his men in the most brutal manner, and carried away a great
number of valuable furs. They also obliged Crear to sign a paper
acknowledging that he had given up the furs voluntarily, which they
extorted with threats of instant death if he should refuse. Mr.
Alexander MacDonnell had lately been promoted to the station of a
partner in the North-West concern.

In the year 1806, Mr. Fidler was sent with a party of eighteen men
from Churchill Factory, to establish a trading post at Isle a la
Crosse, near the borders of the Athabasca country, but within the
territories of the Hudson's Bay Company. He remained there for two
years, sending a detachment of his people to Green Lake and Beaver
River. During the first winter he had some success, but afterwards he
was effectually obstructed. On many former occasions the officers of
the Hudson's Bay Company had attempted to establish a trade in this
place, which is in the centre of a country abounding in beaver, but
they had always been obliged to renounce the attempt. The methods used
with Mr. Fidler may explain the causes of this failure.

Mr. John MacDonnell had been Mr. Fidler's competitor during the early
part of the winter, but (not being inclined to set all principles of
law and justice at defiance) was removed and relieved, first by Mr.
Robert Henry, and then by Mr. John Duncan Campbell. The North-West
concern having been established for many years at Isle a la Crosse
without any competition, had obtained what they call the attachment of
the Indians, that is to say, they had reduced them to such abject
submission that the very sight of a Canadian was sufficient to inspire
them with terror. In order that this salutary awe might suffer no
diminution, the post at Isle a la Crosse was reinforced with an extra
number of Canadians, so that the natives might be effectually
prevented from holding any intercourse with the traders of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and that the appearance of so very superior a
force, ready to overwhelm and destroy him, might deter Mr. Fidler from
any attempt to protect his customers. A watch-house was built close to
his door, so that no Indian could enter unobserved; a party of
professed batteilleurs were stationed here, and employed not only to
watch the natives, but to give every possible annoyance, night and
day, to the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. Their fire-wood was
stolen, they were perpetually obstructed in hunting for provisions,
the produce of their garden was destroyed, their fishing lines taken
away in the night time, and their nets, on which they chiefly relied
for subsistence, cut to pieces. The ruffians who were posted to watch
Mr. Fidler, proceeded from one act of violence to another, and in
proportion as they found themselves feebly resisted, they grew bolder,
and at length issued a formal mandate that not one of the servants of
the Hudson's Bay Company should stir out of their house, and followed
up this with such examples of severity that Mr. Fidler's men refused
to remain at the post. They were compelled to leave it, and the
Canadians immediately burnt his house to the ground.

[Sidenote: The robbery at Bad Lake.]

A trader, William Corrigal, in the service of the Company, was
stationed, in May, 1806, with a few men at a place called Bad Lake,
not far from Albany Factory. Near this post was another occupied by a
much larger number of men in charge of a partner in the North-West
concern named Haldane. Five of the Canadians in his service watching
their opportunity broke into Corrigal's house about midnight when he
and his men were in bed. The ruffians immediately secured all the
loaded guns and pistols they could find, and one of them seizing the
Company's trader and presenting a pistol at his breast swore to shoot
him if he made any resistance. In the meantime the others rifled the
storehouse and took away furs to the number of 480 beaver. On their
departure Corrigal dressed himself and went immediately to Haldane,
whom he found up, and fully attired, to complain of the conduct of his
servants and to demand that the stolen property be restored. The
answer of the Northman was that "He had come to that country for furs,
and furs he was determined to have." The robbers were permitted to
carry away the stolen peltries to the Grand Portage where they were
sold, and formed part of the returns of the North-West concern that
year. A robbery of the same character took place at Red Lake a little
later in the year. This trading house was also under the charge of
Corrigal, and was forcibly entered by eight of the Northmen, armed
with pistols and knives; under threats to murder the servants of the
Hudson's Bay Company they carried off furs to the amount of fifty
beaver. Not long after this they forcibly broke open the same
warehouse and robbed it of a large quantity of cloth, brandy, tobacco
and ammunition.

[Sidenote: Violence and robbery by the North-West Company.]

In the year 1808 Mr. John Spence, of the Hudson's Bay Company,
commanded a post fitted out from Churchill's Factory at Reindeer Lake,
in the neighbourhood of which there was a station of the North-West
Company commanded by Mr. John Duncan Campbell, one of the partners. In
the course of the spring, William Linklater, in the service of the
Hudson's Bay Company, was sent out to meet some Indians, from whom he
traded a parcel of valuable furs. He was bringing them home on a hand
sleigh, and was at no great distance from the house, when Campbell
came out with a number of men, stopped him, demanded the furs, and on
being refused drew a dagger, with which he cut the traces of the
sledge, while at the same time one of his men took hold of Linklater's
shoes, tripped him up, and made him fall on the ice. The sledge of
furs was then hauled away to the North-West concern's house. Campbell
offered to Mr. Spence to send other furs in exchange for those which
he had thus robbed him of; but they were of very inferior value, and
the latter refused the compromise. The furs were carried away, and no
compensation was ever made.

On a previous occasion, at Isle a la Crosse Lake (in the year 1805),
the same Campbell had attacked two of the servants of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and took a parcel of furs from them in the same way. Some of
the men from the Hudson's Bay House came out to assist their
fellow-servants, but were attacked by superior numbers of the
Canadians, and beaten off, with violence and bloodshed.

FOOTNOTES:

[84] See map, page 246.

[85] To exhibit anew the exaggeration common to the acquisition of new
possessions, I may observe that Shelekoff reported that he had
subjected to the crown of Russia, "fifty thousand men in the Island of
Kodiak alone." But Lisiansky, who took a prominent part in the Russian
Company, remarks, in 1805, that "the population of the island, when
compared with its size, is very small." After the "minutest research"
at that time he found it amounted to only four thousand souls.

[86] Canadian archives.

[87] The tables enclosed in the dispatch show, first, the names and
numbers of the posts occupied in the Indian country (exclusive of the
King's posts), the number of partners, clerks and men employed, the
latitude and longitude of each post being also given. The grand total
shows that there were 117 posts, 20 partners, 161 clerks and
interpreters, 877 common men, in all of a permanent staff 1,058 men,
thus divided: Ninety-five in the territory of the United States from
the south side of Lake Superior to the division of the waters falling
into the Mississippi on the one side and Hudson's Bay on the other;
seventy-six on the waters falling into the St. Lawrence from the
Kaministiquia, and also from the St. Maurice; six hundred and thirty
on the waters falling into Hudson's Bay, and two hundred and
fifty-seven on the waters falling into the North Sea by the Mackenzie
River. Besides these there were eighty or one hundred Canadians and
Iroquois hunters, not servants, ranging free over the country and
about five hundred and forty men employed in canoes on the Ottawa
River. The average duties paid annually on landing in Britain amounted
to upwards of £22,000 sterling and the price paid for the furs
exported from Quebec in 1801, at the London sales, was £371,139 11s.
4d.




CHAPTER XXIX.

1808-1812.

     Crisis in the Company's Affairs -- No Dividend Paid -- Petition
     to Lords of the Treasury -- Factors Allowed a Share in the
     Trade -- Canada Jurisdiction Act -- The Killing of MacDonnell
     -- Mowat's Ill-treatment -- Lord Selkirk -- His Scheme laid
     before the Company -- A Protest by Thwaytes and others -- The
     Project Carried -- Emigrants sent out to Red River -- Northmen
     Stirred to Reprisal.


England was again at war with France. Napoleon had placed an embargo
on English commerce, and to the uttermost corner of Europe was this
measure felt. Tons of the most costly furs, for which there was no
market, lay heaped in the Company's warehouse. The greatest difficulty
was experienced in procuring servants, especially seamen, and when
these were procured, they were often seized by a press-gang; shares
began to decline in value; numerous partners were selling out their
interests, and no strong man appeared at the head of affairs.

In 1808 no dividend was paid, chiefly the result of the
non-exportation of the Company's furs to the Continent of Europe.
There were the accumulations of furs imported during 1806, 1807 and
1808 lying in the warehouse without prospect of sale.

The pressure still continued and at last, in 1809, the Company was
driven to petition the Chancellor of the Exchequer for transmission to
Lords of the Treasury, setting forth the Company's position and its
claims on the nation.

[Sidenote: The Company in difficulties.]

"Accumulated difficulties," it said, "have pressed hardly on the
Company and we ask assistance to maintain a colony that till now has
found within itself resources to withstand the pressure of all former
wars and to continue those outfits on which six hundred Europeans and
their families and some thousands of native Indians depend for their
very existence.

"We assure your worships that it was not until all those resources
were exhausted that we came to the resolution of making the present
application."

The petition recited that after having received their charter the
Company had colonized such parts of newly granted territories as
appeared most convenient for carrying on their commerce with the
natives. This commerce "consisted in the barter of British
manufactures for the furs of animals killed by the different tribes of
Indians who were within reach of factories and gradually extended
itself till, as at the present moment, the manufactures of Great
Britain are borne by the traders of Hudson's Bay over the face of the
whole country from Lake Superior to the Athabasca.

"The trade is at present pursued by the export of furs, gunpowder,
shot, woollens, hardware and other articles, which together with large
supplies of provisions for the factories, constitute an annual outfit
consisting wholly of British manufactures and British produce of from
£40,000 to £50,000, in return for which we receive the furs of bears,
wolves, foxes, otters, martens, beaver and other animals, together
with some oil and articles of inferior value. The cargoes are sold at
public sale. The beaver and some few inferior furs, together with the
oil, are bought for home consumption and sell for about £30,000, but
the fine furs were, till after the sale of 1806, bought by the fur
merchants for the fairs of Frankfort and of Leipsic for Petersburg,
and before the present war, for France. Since that year there has not
been a fur sold for exportation, and as a proof to your worships that
the deficiency of buyers did not arise from our holding back for a
higher market, we sold in 1806 for seven shillings per skin furs that
in the more quiet state of Europe in 1804 had brought us 20s. 3d., and
which for years previous to that time had sold for a similar price;
and other depreciation pervaded in about the same proportion the whole
of those furs calculated only for the foreign market, and in some
instances furs were sold for a less price than the duties we had paid
for them.

"Since that period no orders have been received from abroad, and our
warehouses are filled with the most valuable productions of three
years' import that if sold at the prices of those years before the
closing of the ports on the Continent would have produced us at least
£150,000.

"It may be objected to us, that we were improvident in pursuing under
such circumstances a trade which must so inevitably tend to ruin. But
a certainty that a considerable quantity of furs found their way to
New York, and an earnest zeal for the preservation of trade which by
the conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company had been secured to this
country for a century and a half, prompted us to every exertion to
maintain the footing we had established, and the annually increasing
amount of our trade gave us just grounds to look forward with
confidence to the opening of the northern ports of Europe as the
period when all our difficulties would cease; an event which, anterior
to the battles of Austerlitz or of Jena, was looked for with the most
sanguine expectation.

"Above all were we impelled by the strongest motives to continue these
supplies which were necessary for the subsistence of six hundred
European servants, their wives and children, dispersed over a vast and
extended field of the North American Continent, and who would not be
brought to Europe under a period of three years as well as those upon
whom the many Indian nations now depend for their very existence.

"The nations of hunters taught for one hundred and fifty years the use
of fire-arms could no more resort, with certainty, to the bow or the
javelin for their daily subsistence. Accustomed to the hatchet of
Great Britain, they could ill adopt the rude sharpened stone to the
purposes of building, and until years of misery and of famine had
extirpated the present race, they could not recur to the simple arts
by which they supported themselves before the introduction of British
manufactures. As the outfits of the Hudson's Bay Company consist
principally of articles which long habit have taught them now to
consider of first necessity, if we withhold these outfits, we leave
them destitute of their only means of support. The truth of this
observation had a melancholy proof in the year 1782, when from the
attack made upon the settlements by La Pérouse, and the consequent
failure of our supplies, many of the Indians were found starved to
death.

[Sidenote: Petition of the Company.]

"It was not only from the firm conviction that we felt of the
necessity of European manufactures to the present existence of whole
nations of North American Indians that we considered ourselves bound
by the most powerful ties to exert every effort in their favour; but
also that we might continue to them those advantages which would
result to their religious as well as civil welfare from the
progressive improvements, and a gradual system of civilisation and
education which we have introduced throughout the country;
improvements which are now diffusing the comforts of civilized life,
as well as the blessings of the Christian faith to thousands of
uninstructed Indians, and would in their completion, we can
confidently assert, have tended to the future cultivation of lands,
which from experiments we found capable of growing most of the grains
of Northern Europe, and from their climate adapted to the culture of
hemp and flax, and from the labour of those families who would have
been induced to settle at our factories, might soon have brought to
this country the produce of the boundless forests of pine that spread
themselves over almost the southern parts of our possessions.

"To realize these not visionary schemes, but sure and certain plans,
founded upon the progressive civilization of the natives, were objects
not to be given up without the most urgent necessity, and the hope
that the ruler of the French Empire could not forever shut out our
trade from Europe, induced us to resort to every means within our
power to preserve the advantages resulting to ourselves and to the
Indians, and to the British nation.

"We have exhausted those funds which we set apart for their
completion; we have pledged our credit till we feel, as honest men,
that upon the present uncertainty we can pledge it no farther, and we
throw ourselves upon your Worship's wisdom to afford us that temporary
assistance which we cannot ask at any other hands.

"Were we to resort to the early history of our settlements, we might
lay the foundations of just claims upon the public to assist our
present wants. We could show instances of most destructive attacks by
the French upon our factories. Our forts and military works, mounted
with a numerous and expensive artillery for the defence of the colony
against their future operations, were destroyed and the guns ruined.
And particularly was a most grievous loss occasioned to us by the
predatory attack of La Pérouse about the conclusion of the American
War, which caused the distress to which we have above alluded.

"Against these pressures when our trade flourished we were able to
hold up, and we found within ourselves those resources which defeated
the enemy's views and continued to Great Britain the trade we had
established.

"And it is not until pressed to our last resort that we ask of your
Lordships that assistance with which we may confidently hope to
preserve our trade until the continent may be again opened, when we
shall be delivered from those difficulties under which we are now
sinking."

The petition was signed by Wm. Mainwaring, Governor; Joseph Berens,
Deputy Governor; George Hyde Wollaston, Thomas Neave, Job Mathew
Raikes, Thomas Langley, John Henry Pelly, Benjamin Harrison, John
Webb.

In April the Adventurers petitioned the King in Council to reduce
duties on furs to one-half, or trade must suffer extinction. No profit
was derivable, it said, on marten, wolf, bear, wolverine and
fisher-skins.

To this petition the Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade,
Whitehall, replied in the following February, that the memorial of the
Hudson's Bay Company contained no proposition on which the Lords of
this Council could "offer any opinion to the Lords of Treasury."

[Sidenote: Small Government assistance.]

As their petition was denied, the Company now boldly prepared a
request and asked for a loan of £60,000, and that time be extended for
paying the duties on furs imported until the continental market
re-opened. To this request an answer was returned, allowing twelve
months storage of furs free of duty and promising drawbacks as if
storage had only been for one year, but stating that there were no
funds out of which a loan could be made without special authority of
Parliament.

It was clear that the Company was in very low water, and that some new
salutary policy was demanded. By way of a beginning, barter was
abolished as a basis of trade, and money payments ordered. At the same
time the Adventurers stole a leaf out of the book of the North-West
company, and new regulations, comprising thirty-five articles, were
made in the early months of 1810, for carrying on the business in
Hudson's Bay.

The principle of allowing to their chief officers a considerable
participation in the profits of their trade was admitted. It was found
absolutely necessary to adopt some step of this sort, as nothing of
such a measure could be sufficient to stem the torrent of aggression
with which they had been assailed by the North-West company; and their
absolute ruin must have ensued if some effectual means had not been
taken, not only to rectify some of the abuses which had crept in under
the former system, but also to rouse their officers to a more
effectual resistance of the lawless violence practised against them.

The total lack of jurisdiction in the Indian country, as the territory
which was the scene of the operations of the fur-traders was called,
permitted crime to go unpunished, and numerous representations were
made in respect to the evils of this practical immunity from
punishment. In Sir Alexander Mackenzie's letter of the 25th of
October, 1802, he says that, in view of the improbability of the two
companies amalgamating, a jurisdiction should be established as
speedily as possible, to prevent the contending fur companies from
abusing the power either might possess, so as to secure to each the
fruits of fair, honest and industrious exertion; it would also, he
believed, tend to put a stop to the increasing animosity between the
two companies. Mr. Richardson, of the other company, also pressed for
the establishment of a competent jurisdiction and instanced the case
of one of the clerks in his company who had killed a clerk of the
other in defending the property in his care. The young man had come to
Montreal to be tried, but there being no jurisdiction there for such
trial, "he remains in the deplorable predicament that neither his
innocence nor his guilt can be legally ascertained." He also proposed
that a military post should be established at Thunder Bay, on Lake
Superior, as an additional means of securing peace.

Repeatedly had the Grand Juries of Quebec and Montreal called
attention to this want of jurisdiction. In one report the number of
people from the Canadas, chiefly from Lower Canada, was urged as one
reason for establishing in the Indian country a court of competent
jurisdiction for the trial of offences committed in these territories,
including Hudson's Bay.

[Sidenote: Plea for establishment of jurisdiction.]

"The very heavy expense," observes the report, "incident to the
conveyance of offenders from the Territory of Hudson's Bay to England,
with the necessary witnesses on both sides, and the cost of
prosecution and defence, must generally operate, either to prevent
recourse to a tribunal across the ocean, and thereby stimulate to
private retaliation and revenge, or where such course can or shall be
had, the guilty may escape punishment, and the innocent be sacrificed
from the distance of time and place of trial, the death or absence of
witnesses, or other causes; and the mind cannot contemplate without
horror the possible abuses to which such circumstances might give
rise; as in the instance of a prosecutor coming from and at a remote
day, when the accused may be destitute of pecuniary means, and the
exculpatory evidence may either be dead, removed, or be otherwise
beyond his reach, who at all events (however innocent he may finally
be found) will have undergone a long and painful confinement, far
removed from his family and connections, and perhaps ruinous to every
prospect he had in life."

Sir Robert Milnes strongly supported the representation of the Grand
Jury, and added that "Under such circumstances every species of
offence is to be apprehended, from Trespasses to Murder," and also
that "the national character of the English will be debased among the
Indians, and the numerous tribes of those people will in consequence
thereof be more easily wrought upon by foreign emissaries employed by
the Enemies of Great Britain."[88]

In consequence of these representations Lord Hobart promised that
immediate steps should be taken to remedy the existing state of
affairs. But Milnes became impatient for a decision, and writing in
September, 1803, to the Under-Secretary, he reminded him of the
promise, the great increase and extent of the fur-trade rendering such
an Act daily more necessary. The Act to give jurisdiction to the
Courts of Upper and Lower Canada had, however, been assented to on the
11th of the preceding month.

  [Illustration: VOYAGEURS TRACKING CANOES UP A RAPID.]

[Sidenote: Canada Jurisdiction Act.]

The first case brought to trial under the Act became celebrated. In
the autumn of 1809 William Corrigal was the trader at a Company's post
near Eagle Lake. On the 15th of September a party of North-Westers
established an encampment about forty yards from the Company's post,
under one of their clerks, Aeneas MacDonnell. In the evening an Indian
arrived in his canoe to trade with Corrigal and to pay a debt which he
owed him. As he was not able to defray the whole amount, Corrigal
accepted the canoe in part payment. The Indian requested that it might
be lent to him for a few days, which was agreed to; and the Indian
spent the night at the post with his canoe. In the morning he received
in advance some more merchandise, such as clothing for his family and
ammunition for his winter hunt. When he finally departed, three of the
Company's servants were sent down to the wharf with the canoe and the
goods. On their way they were observed by a number of Northmen,
including MacDonnell, who went immediately down to the lake, armed
with a sword and accompanied by a voyageur named Adhemer, armed with a
brace of pistols. Upon pretence that the unhappy Red man was indebted
to the North-West company, they proceeded to seize and drag away the
canoe and the merchandise to their own wharf. Corrigal observing this,
commanded two of his men, James Tate and John Corrigal, to go into the
water and prevent the seizure, and as they approached on this mission
MacDonnell drew his sword and struck two blows at Tate's head. The
latter was unarmed, and warded the blows with his wrist, which was
severely gashed. He then received another deep wound in the neck,
which felled him to the ground. In the meantime Adhemer had seized
John Corrigal (who was also unarmed) and presenting a cocked pistol at
his head, swore that if he went near the canoe he would blow out his
brains.

Several of the Company's servants who were near the spot, perceiving
what was going on, and observing that the rest of MacDonnell's men
were collecting with arms, ran up to their own house, which was only
about forty or fifty yards from the lake, for weapons of defence.
MacDonnell next attacked John Corrigal, who to escape him ran into the
lake. Finding the water too deep, however, he was soon obliged to make
a turn towards the shore. His pursuer wading after him, aimed a blow
at him with his sword, cut his arm above the elbow and laid the bone
bare. He followed this up with a tremendous blow at his head, which
Robert Leask, one of the Company's servants, fortunately warded off
with the paddle of his canoe, which was cut in two by the blow. The
North-West leader in a fury now attacked another servant named Essen,
aimed a blow at him with his sword, which, however, only struck his
hat off. But in making his escape Essen fell into the water. Before he
could recover himself another Canadian aimed a blow at his head with a
heavy axe, which missed its aim, but dislocated his shoulder, so that
he could make no use of his arm for over two months after this
affray.

[Sidenote: Killing of MacDonnell.]

MacDonnell and Adhemer, the one with a drawn sword and the other with
a cocked pistol, continued to pursue several other of the Company's
servants towards the fort, when one of them, named John Mowat, whom
MacDonnell had previously struck with his sword, and was preparing to
strike again, shot MacDonnell on the spot.

[Sidenote: Trial of Mowat.]

MacDonnell's body was carried away, and the parties separated,
Corrigal fearing a further attack. On the 24th, a partner of the
North-West Company, named Haldane, arrived in a canoe with ten men,
and on the following day another partner, McLellan, also arrived. They
came to the gates of the stockades, behind which Corrigal and his men
had barricaded themselves, and demanded the man who had shot
MacDonnell. They declared that if the person was not immediately given
up they would either shoot every one of the Company's men, or get the
Indians to kill them, were it even to cost them a keg of brandy for
each of their heads! Mowat now stepped forward and acknowledged that
he was the man, and that he would shoot MacDonnell again in the same
circumstances. Much to his surprise the North-Westers announced their
intention of taking him and two witnesses down to Montreal for trial.
Mowat was thereupon put in irons. From the 2nd of October, when they
arrived at Rainy Lake, the unhappy man was generally kept in irons
from six in the morning till eight in the evening, and during the
night until the 14th of December. During the whole winter he was kept
in close confinement, and the two witnesses, Tate and Leask, who had
voluntarily accompanied him, were themselves subjected to much insult
and indignity, and were obliged to submit to every species of drudgery
and labour in order to obtain a bare subsistence. In June the whole
party, including Corrigal, arrived at Fort William, the chief
trading-post rendezvous of the North-Westers. Here Mowat was
imprisoned in a close and miserable dungeon, about six feet square,
without any window or light of any kind whatsoever, and when he
finally reached Montreal he was in a most pitiable condition. The
witnesses were seized on a charge of aiding and abetting the murder
of MacDonnell, and this upon the oath of one of the North-West
half-breeds. The Hudson's Bay Company had at this time no agent or
correspondent at Montreal or any place in Canada, and it was not until
the end of November that the Honourable Adventurers heard of the
prosecution being carried on against their servants. Immediate steps
were taken for their protection, and counsel engaged for the defence.
Mowat and his witnesses were indicted for murder. The grand jury found
a true bill against Mowat, but not against the others, and Tate and
Leask were accordingly discharged.[89]

In spite of the evidence, the jury brought in a verdict of
manslaughter. The judge, however, had charged them to find it murder.
Mowat was sentenced to be imprisoned six months and branded on the
hand with a hot iron. After his discharge, two years from the time he
was first put in irons at Eagle Lake, Mowat proceeded from Canada to
the United States in order to return to England, but was never heard
of again. He is supposed to have been drowned by the breaking of the
ice in one of the rivers he had to cross on his way.

[Sidenote: The Earl of Selkirk.]

Such was the situation in the early years of the century. At this time
there rose a name destined to be of more than local fame, that of
Thomas Douglas, fifth Earl of Selkirk, a young man of benevolent
character, whose feelings had been deeply moved by the sufferings of
his countrymen in the Scottish Highlands. Nor was the nobleman's
compassion excited without cause. A compulsory exodus of the
inhabitants of the mountainous regions in the county of Sutherland was
in progress. The tale of expulsion of a vast number of poor tenantry
from the estates of the Duchess of Sutherland, which they and their
ancestors had looked upon as their own without the necessity of rent
and taxes, may be heard to-day from some white-haired old grandfather,
who had it from the lips of his sire, in the far north of Scotland.
The system of rents and land-management as it prevails to-day all over
the Highlands had only then been put in force, and the squatters were
driven to seek their homes as best they might in the remote and
sequestered places of the earth. Selkirk encouraged this emigration as
the only remedy; and having endeavoured in vain to secure the active
co-operation of the Government, resolved to settle a colony on waste
lands granted him in Prince Edward Island. The better to ensure
success, he went in person to oversee the whole enterprise. Gathering
together about eight hundred of these poor people, who bade a
melancholy farewell to their heather-robed hills, they arrived at
their future home early in September, 1803.

  [Illustration: LORD SELKIRK.]

Selkirk visited Montreal in this and also in the following year on
matters connected with his philanthropic undertaking, and on both
occasions evinced the heartiest interest in the great territory to the
north-west which formed the theatre of action for the two rival
fur-trading companies.

The Prince Edward Island colony continuing to prosper, Lord Selkirk
now conceived the plan of forming a colony on the banks of the Red
River, in Rupert's Land.[90] In order to execute his project with a
greater assurance of success, he again, in 1805, addressed the British
Government and nation, pointing out the successful issue of his colony
as an example of the excellent results which would attend a further
exodus of the superfluous population.

Time went on and the execution of the plan being still in abeyance,
the great decline in Hudson's Bay stock suggested an idea to Selkirk.
He submitted the charter to several of the highest legal authorities
in England, and got from them the following:

"We are of the opinion that the grant of the said contained charter is
good, and that it will include all the country, the waters of which
run into Hudson's Bay, as ascertained by geographical observations.

[Sidenote: Legal opinion on the Company's charter.]

"We are of opinion that an individual holding from the Hudson's Bay
Company a lease or grant in fee simple of any part of their territory,
will be entitled to all the ordinary rights of landed property in
England, and will be entitled to prevent other persons from occupying
any part of the lands; from cutting down timber and fishing in the
adjoining waters (being such as a private right of fishing may subsist
in), and may (if he can peaceably or otherwise in due course of law)
dispossess them of any buildings which they have recently erected
within the limits of their property.

"We are of opinion that the grant of the civil and criminal
jurisdiction is valid, though it is not granted to the Company, but
to the Governor and Council at their respective establishments. We
cannot recommend, however, it to be exercised so as to affect the
lives or limbs of criminals. It is to be exercised by the Governor and
Council as judges, who are to proceed according to the laws of
England.

"The Company may appoint a sheriff to execute judgments and do his
duty as in England.

"We are of opinion that the sheriff, in case of resistance to his
authority, may collect the population to his assistance, and put arms
into the hands of his servants for defence against attack, and to
assist in enforcing the judgments of the courts; but such powers
cannot be exercised with too much circumspection.

"We are of opinion that all persons will be subject to the
jurisdiction of the court, who reside or are found within the
territories over which it extends.

"We do not think the Canada Jurisdiction Act (43 George III.) gives
jurisdiction within the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, the
same being within the jurisdiction of their own governors and
council.[91]

"We are of opinion that the Governor (in Hudson's) might under the
authority of the Company, appoint constables and other officers for
the preservation of the peace and that the officers so appointed would
have the same duties and privileges as the same officers in England,
so far as these duties and privileges may be applicable to their
situation in the territories of the Company." This was signed by Sir
Samuel Ronully, Mr. Justice Holroyd, W. M. Cruise, J. Scarlett and
John Bell. There could be thus no question of Selkirk's right. The
Company's charter, amongst other provisions, expressly forbids all
English subjects from entering, without license or authority, upon the
territories of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Governor and Company only
are empowered to grant such authority and on them also is conferred
the right of establishing castles, fortifications, forts, garrisons,
colonies, plantations, towns and villages, in any parts or places
within the limits of their territory. They had also the right of
sending ships of war, men or ammunition, to their colonies,
fortifications or plantations, and of appointing governors, commanders
and officers over them.

Selkirk began by purchasing several thousand pounds worth of shares in
the Company.

Late in 1810 he made a formal proposition to the Company, a
proposition previously made and rejected, for a settlement to be made
within its territory. This time some of the Honourable Adventurers
began to see that the scheme might be fraught with salvation for
themselves.

Lord Selkirk was asked to lay before the committee the terms on which
he would accept a grant of land within the Hudson's Bay territories,
"specifying what restrictions he would be prepared to consent to be
imposed on the settlers." Also what security he would offer to the
Company against any injury to its trade or to its rights and
privileges.

Lord Selkirk responded to this, and his proposals were agreed to,
subject to final approbation of a general court of all the
Adventurers.

[Sidenote: Selkirk's project.]

It now dawned upon the wiser spirits that here was being offered them
the means for the Company's salvation. Nevertheless, the traditional
opposition of the Company to any project of the kind still lingered,
and was not easily disposed of. For weeks the meetings in committee
resounded with appeals to "traditional policy," to "loyalty to the
noble, the ancient founders," to "a spirit of reverence for the
history of our Company," but all to no purpose. Selkirk was to carry
the day. A general court was convened, by public notice, in May 1811,
when the stockholders were informed that the Governor and Committee
considered it beneficial to their general interests to grant Lord
Selkirk 116,000 square miles of their territory, on condition that he
should establish a colony and furnish, on certain terms, from amongst
the settlers, such labourers as would be required by the Company in
their trade.

In order to give the partners a further opportunity of making
themselves fully informed of the nature of the proposed measure, an
adjournment of the court took place. In the meanwhile notice was given
to all the stockholders that the terms of the proposed grant were left
at the secretary's office for their inspection.

This interval was the opportunity of McGillivray and his friends.

In certain quarters, no pains or misrepresentations were spared by
persons associated with the North-West Company to prejudice the public
mind against it. The newspapers teemed with falsehoods representing
the country as cold or barren, as a dreary waste or interminable
forest, unfit to be the abode of men and incapable of improvement.
Selkirk was accosted in Pall Mall by a friend who remarked: "By God,
sir, if you are bent on doing something futile, why do you not sow
tares at home in order to reap wheat, or plough the desert of Sahara,
which is nearer."

Old servants of the Company came forward to dispel these calumnies,
and seeing their first falsehoods destroyed, Selkirk's enemies now
proceeded to follow new tactics. They spoke with feigned alarm
concerning the hostile disposition of the aborigines; they lamented
with affected sympathy and humanity the injuries and slaughters to
which the colonists would be exposed from the savages.

At the adjourned meeting the proposition was again discussed amidst
the greatest excitement and tumult, and adopted. A memorial or protest
was however entered against the measure, bearing the signature of six
of the proprietors.

[Sidenote: Opposition by agents of the North-West Company.]

Of these six signing the protest, three were persons closely connected
with and interested in the rival commercial concerns of the North-West
Company of Montreal; and two of the three were, at the very moment,
avowed London agents of that association. These had become proprietors
of Hudson's Bay stock only eight and forty hours before the general
meeting. They were not indeed possessed of it long enough to entitle
them to vote at the meeting; but their names now being entered in the
Company's books, though the ink was scarcely dry with which they were
inserted, they felt themselves competent to formally raise their
voices in condemnation of those measures which the committee of
directors unanimously, and the general court by a great majority, had
approved of.

Their design in acquiring the Company's stock was obvious. However
circuitous the stratagem might be, it was clear that they had thus
become proprietors of one commercial company for the purpose of
advancing the fortunes of another, and a rival concern.[92] The
stratagem did not altogether fail, for Lord Selkirk's agents were yet
to encounter much friction in distant quarters supposed to be
friendly, and required to be obedient to the orders of the Company.

When the vote was taken, it was found that for the question there
appeared holders of stock valued at £29,937; against it, £14,823. The
Earl, himself, voted "for"--£4,087; the principal opponent of the
scheme being one William Thwaytes, whose interest was represented at
£9,233.

At this meeting a memorial was read violently opposing the scheme,
signed by Thwaytes and four or five others. According to them, the
main objections were:--(_a_) Impolitic; (_b_) Consideration
inadequate; (_c_) Grant asked for very large proportion of Company's
holding, viz.: 70,000 square miles, or about 45,000,000 acres; (_d_)
Should be a public sale, if any, not a private contract with a member
of the Company; (_e_) No penalty for failure to find settlers; (_f_)
Colonization unfavourable to the fur-trade; private traffic would be
carried on with the United States of America.

The Earl proposed to find a number of effective men as servants to the
Hudson's Bay Company in return for a grant of land, viz., two hundred
men for ten years, from 1812, who would every year be ready to embark
between May 1st and July 1st at an appointed place in Scotland.

The Company were to pay wages to each man not exceeding £20. Should
the Earl fail, he agreed to forfeit £10 per man short of two hundred.
As to proposed grants of land to settlers, two hundred acres were to
be given to labourers or artificers; one thousand acres to a master of
a trading-house. The Company were, of course, to have full rights of
access to all the surrendered districts.

[Sidenote: Earl Selkirk's proposal accepted.]

The customs duties, exports and imports, payable by settlers were not
to exceed five per cent, at Port Nelson, unless it happened that a
higher duty was levied at Quebec. The duties so to be levied were to
be applied to the expense of Government police, communication between
Lake Winnipeg and Port Nelson, etc., and not to be taken as profits
for the Company. The show of hands was in favour of the proposal; but
a protest was handed in to the Governor by Thwaytes and others. In
spite of this, on the 13th of June, the deed was signed, sealed and
delivered by the secretary on behalf of the Company.

The lands were defined by deed as situate between 52° 30' north
latitude and 102° 30' west longitude, a map being affixed to the
deed.

In reading this protest, one who was ignorant of the true state of
affairs would have been led to believe that the partners concerned had
no object so dear to them as the welfare and prosperity of the
Hudson's Bay Company. These gentlemen appeared to be animated by the
most thorough devotion and zeal, as they stood together declaiming in
loud, earnest tones against the errors into which their beloved
Company was falling, and pouring out their sympathy to the emigrant
settlers who might be lured to their destruction by establishing
themselves on the lands so granted "out of reach," to employ their own
phrase, "of all those aids and comforts which are derived from civil
society;" and so it did truly appear to many then as it has done
since. But let us examine those signatures, and lo, the wolf obtrudes
himself basking in the skin of a lamb!

The grant was thus confirmed. The opposition had found itself
powerless, and Selkirk was put into possession of a territory only
5,115 square miles less than the entire area of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland.[93]

The grant secured, Selkirk at once despatched agents to Ireland and
throughout the highlands of Scotland, to engage servants, some for the
Company's service, others for general labourers in the colony. These
last were known as "his lordship's servants," and were engaged for a
term of years, at the expiration of which they became entitled to one
hundred acres of land, free of cost. They were placed under the charge
of Miles McDonnell, who received a joint appointment from Selkirk and
the Company, as first Governor of the new colony.

[Sidenote: Selkirk's immigrants arrive.]

The first section of the immigrant party arrived at York Factory late
in the autumn of 1811.[94] This post was then in charge of William
Auld, who, as we have seen, occupied the position of Superintendent of
the Northern Department of Rupert's Land. After a short residence at
the fort, where they were treated in a somewhat tyrannical and
high-handed fashion by the Governor, who had scant sympathy for the
new _régime_, the party were sent forward to Seal Creek, fifty miles
up Nelson River. Governor McDonnell and one Hillier, in the character
of justice of the peace, accompanied them thither, and preparations
were at once made for the erection of a suitable shelter.

  [Illustration: STORNAWAY.
   (_The Hebrides._)]

McDonnell experienced a great deal of trouble during the winter with
the men under his charge, for a mutinous spirit broke out, and he was
put to his wits' end to enforce discipline. He put it all down to the
Glasgow servants. "These Glasgow rascals," he declared to Auld, the
Governor of York Factory, "have caused us both much trouble and
uneasiness. A more stubborn, litigious and cross-grained lot were
never put under any person's care. I cannot think that any liberality
of rum or rations could have availed to stop their dissatisfaction.
Army and navy discipline is the only thing fit to manage such fierce
spirits."

But the Irish of the party were hardly more tractable. On New Year's
night, 1812, a violent and unprovoked attack was made by some of the
Irish on a party of Orkneymen, who were celebrating the occasion.
Three of the latter were so severely beaten that for a month the
surgeon could not report their lives entirely out of danger. Four of
the Irishmen concerned in this assault were sent back home. "Worthless
blackguards," records the Governor; "the lash may make them
serviceable to the Government in the army or navy, but they will never
do for us."

On the subject of the Orkney servants of the Company all critics were
not agreed. Governor McDonnell's opinion, for instance, was not
flattering:--

"There cannot," he reported, "be much improvement made in the country
while the Orkneymen form the majority of labourers; they are lazy,
spiritless, and ill-disposed--wedded to old habits, strongly
prejudiced against any change, however beneficial. It was with the
utmost reluctance they could be prevailed on to drink the spruce juice
to save themselves from the scurvy; they think nothing of the scurvy,
as they are then idle, and their wages run on.... It is not uncommon
for an Orkneyman to consume six pounds or eight pounds of meat in a
day, and some have ate as much in a single meal. This gluttonous
appetite, they say, is occasioned by the cold. I entirely discredit
the assertion, as I think it rather to be natural to themselves. All
the labour I have seen these men do would scarcely pay for the
victuals they consume. With twenty-five men belonging to it, the
factory was last winter distressed for firewood, and the people sent
to tent in the woods."[95]

[Sidenote: Opposition by the Nor'-Westers.]

Meanwhile, leaving the shivering immigrants, distrustful of their
officers and doubtful of what the future had in store for them, to
encamp at Seal Creek, let us turn to the state of affairs amongst the
parties concerned elsewhere, particularly amongst the Nor'-Westers.
Simon McGillivray, who was agent in London for that Company, watched
all Selkirk's acts with the utmost distrust, and kept the partners
continually informed of the turn affairs were taking. He assured them
that Selkirk's philanthropy was all a cloak, designed to cover up a
scheme for the total extinction of the Hudson's Bay Company's rivals.
The colony was to be planted to ruin their trade. It was an endeavour
to check the physical superiority of the Nor'-Westers and by means of
this settlement secure to the Hudson's Bay Company and to himself, not
only the extensive and sole trade of the country within their own
territories, but a "safe and convenient stepping-stone for
monopolizing all the fur-trade of the Far West."

The partners in Montreal were stirred to action. Regarding Lord
Selkirk's motives in this light, they warmly disputed the validity of
the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter and of the grants of land made to
him. It was decided to bring all the forces of opposition they
possessed to bear on this "invasion of their hunting grounds."

FOOTNOTES:

[88] Canadian Archives.

[89] It has been noted that several partners of the North-West concern
were upon the grand jury which found the bill of indictment, and out
of four judges who sat upon the bench, two were nearly related to
individuals of that association.

[90] Already, in April, 1802, Lord Selkirk had addressed a letter and
memorial to Lord Pelham, the Home Secretary, detailing the
practicability of promoting emigration to Rupert's Land. "To a colony
in these territories," he concluded, "the channel of trade must be the
river of Port Nelson."

[91] In the course of a letter reporting on the disputes between the
Hudson's Bay Company and the North-Westers, Commissioner Coltman
attributed the disasters in the territories to the Company having held
in abeyance its right to jurisdiction and that this neglect was the
reason for passing the act of 1803. This letter is in the Canadian
Archives, _v._ Report 1892.

[92] "I have," writes Sir Alexander Mackenzie from London, 13th April,
1812, "finally settled with that Lord (Selkirk). After having prepared
a bill to carry him before the Lord Chancellor, it was proposed to my
solicitor by the solicitor of his Lordship that one-third of the stock
that was purchased on joint account before I went to America,
amounting to £47,000, and the balance of cash in his Lordship's hands,
belonging to me, should be given up to me; of this I accepted, though
I might have obliged his Lordship to make over to me one-third of the
whole purchase made by him in this stock, which at one time I was
determined to do, having been encouraged thereto by the house of
Suffolk Lane and countenanced by that of Mark Lane. But these houses
thought it prudent to desist from any further purchases."

Mackenzie says that by a verbal understanding with Mr. McGillivray,
his purchase of the Hudson's Bay stock belonged to the North-West
Company, and that, if Mr. McGillivray himself had been there, a sum of
£30,000 might have been invested in that stock, "all of which Lord
Selkirk purchased, and if he persists in his present scheme, it will
be the dearest he yet made.

"He will put the North-West Company to a greater expense than you seem
to apprehend, and had the Company sacrificed £20,000 which might have
secured a preponderance in the stock of Hudson's Bay Co., it would
have been money well spent."

[93] The district thus granted was called Assiniboia, a name
undoubtedly derived from the Assiniboine tribe and river, yet alleged
by some at the time to be taken from two Gaelic words "osni" and
"boia"--the house of Ossian.

[94] "None of the young men," says McDonnell, "made any progress in
learning the Gaelic or Irish language on the voyage. I had some drills
of the people with arms, but the weather was generally boisterous, and
there were few days when a person could stand steady on deck. There
never was a more awkward squad--not a man, or even officer, of the
party knew how to put a gun to his eye or had ever fired a shot."

[95] Governor McDonnell's observations are not always to be relied
upon. For instance, he says in one report, "I am surprised the Company
never directed a survey to be made of the coast on each side of
Hudson's Straits. From the appearance of the country there must be
many harbours and inlets for vessels to go in case of an accident from
ice, want of water, etc. We were often, ourselves, much in doubt for
the accomplishment of our voyage, and had we been under the necessity
of putting back, must have suffered for want of water. Two of the
ships, without any additional expense, might execute this survey on
the voyage out, with only the detention of a few days, one taking the
north and the other the south shore." Such a survey had been made as
early as 1728. Mention has already been made of Captain Coats, who, in
1739, prepared a chart of the Straits and Bay. To some of the older
captains in the service, the Straits were as well-known as the harbour
of Stromness.




CHAPTER XXX.

1812-1815.

     The Bois-Brulés -- Simon McGillivray's Letter -- Frightening
     the Settlers -- A second Brigade -- Governor McDonnell's
     Manifesto -- Defection of Northmen to the Company --
     Robertson's Expedition to Athabasca -- Affairs at Red River --
     Cameron and McDonell in uniform -- Cuthbert Grant -- Miles
     McDonnell arrested -- Fort William -- News brought to the
     Northmen -- Their confiscated account-books -- War of 1812
     concluded.


[Sidenote: The Bois-Brulés.]

There had lately been witnessed the rapid growth of a new
class--sprung from the loins of Red man and European. Alert, rugged,
turbulent, they evinced at the same time a passionate love of the life
and manners of the wilderness, and a fierce intractability which could
hardly fail to cause occasional uneasiness in the minds of their
masters. To this class had been given the name of Métis, or
Bois-Brulés. They were principally the descendants of the French
voyageurs of the North-West concern, who had allied themselves with
Indian women and settled down on the shore of some lake or stream in
the interior. Amongst these half-breeds hunters and trappers came, and
at a later period a number of Englishmen and Scotchmen, hardly less
strongly linked to a wild, hardy life than themselves. These also took
Indian wives, and they and their children spoke of themselves as
neither English, Scotch, or Indian, but as belonging to the "New
Nation."

From 1812 to 1821 the North-West concern absorbed all the labours and
exacted the loyalty of the increasing class of Bois-Brulés. The
Hudson's Bay Company was exclusively an English company, and their
Scotch and English servants had left few traces of an alliance with
the aborigines. As the posts in the interior began to multiply, and
the men were thus cut off from the larger society which obtained at
York, Cumberland and Moose factories, and were thrown more upon their
own resources, a laxer discipline prevailed, and the example of their
neighbours was followed. A time was to come when the "Orkney
half-breeds" equalled in point of numbers those of the French
Bois-Brulés.

  [Illustration: A BOIS-BRULÉ.]

There were yet few half-breeds of English extraction. The Bois-Brulés
were passionately attached to the North-West company, who were quick
to recognize their value as agents amongst the Indians. The idea of
nationality, so far from being frowned upon, was encouraged amongst
them. So much for the instruments which the Company proposed to employ
in Montreal.

It was only natural that amongst this rude race there should arise a
leader, a half-breed to whose superior ability and natural advantages
was added an education in Montreal, the seat of the co-partnery.
Cuthbert Grant, which was the name this individual bore, was known far
and wide amongst the hunters and trappers of Rupert's Land, and
everywhere commanded homage and respect. He had risen to be one of the
most enterprising and valued agents of the Nor'-Westers, and was
constantly admitted to their councils.

On the 22nd of May, 1811, at which period the matter was in embryo in
London, Simon McGillivray had frankly declared to Miles McDonnell,
agent to Lord Selkirk, that he was "determined to give all the
opposition in his power, whatever might be the consequences," because,
in his opinion, "such a settlement struck at the root of the
North-West company, which it was intended to ruin."[96]

By way of argument, this gentleman took it upon himself to inform the
Hudson's Bay Company that the proposed settlement was foredoomed to
destruction, inasmuch as it "must at all times lie at the mercy of the
Indians," who would not be bound by treaties, and that "one North-West
Company's interpreter would be able at any time to set the Indians
against the settlers and destroy them."

[Sidenote: Defections from the North-West Company.]

Selkirk was now informed that there were several clerks who had been
many years in the service of the Northmen, and who were disaffected in
that service. They grumbled at not having been sooner promoted to the
proprietary--that the claims of the old and faithful were too often
passed over for those of younger men of little experience, because
they were related to the partners. The Earl was not slow to avail
himself of this advantage. It became a matter of importance to
persuade as many as possible of these dissatisfied spirits to join his
scheme, by the offer of large salaries, and several accepted his offer
with alacrity. Amongst the most enterprising was one Colin Robertson,
a trader who had often ventured his life amongst the tribes and
half-breeds, to forward the interests of his establishment. He
possessed a perfect knowledge of the interior and of the fur-trade,
and to him Lord Selkirk entrusted the chief management of the latter
for the Company. Robertson was well convinced of the superiority of
the Canadian voyageurs over the Orkneymen, in the management of
canoes, for example, and he proceeded to engage a number of them in
Montreal at a much higher wage than they had received hitherto.

To Robertson's counsels must be ascribed much of the invigoration
which now began to mark the policy of the Company. His letters to the
Company were full of a common-sense and a fighting spirit. "Let us
carry the trade to Athabasca," he said; and he proceeded to
demonstrate how all rivalry could be annihilated. The strength and
weakness of his rivals were familiar to him, and he was well aware how
much depended on the Indians themselves. They could and would deal
with whom they chose; Robertson determined they should deal
henceforth, not with the North-West, but with the Hudson's Bay
Company.

The Northmen had been for years continually pressing to the West. They
were doing a thriving trade on the Columbia River, in Oregon, where
they had a lucrative post; they had a post to the south of that in
California, and to the north as far as New Archangel. In the second
decade of the century the North-West Association had over three
hundred Canadians in its employ on the Pacific slope, sending three or
four ships annually to London by way of Cape Horn. In 1810 they had a
competitor in the post of Astoria, founded by John Jacob Astor, a
fur-monopolist of New York. Astor had made overtures to the North-West
partners, which had been declined; whereupon he induced about twenty
Canadians to leave them and enter his service. He despatched two
expeditions, one overland and the other by sea, around Cape Horn. But
the founder of Astoria had not foreseen that the breaking out of war
between Great Britain and America would upset all his plans. Fort
Astoria, in the fortunes of war, changed hands and became Fort George;
and although the post was, by the Treaty of Ghent, restored, the
Canadians and Scotchmen had returned to their old employers and
interests. In a few years the Hudson's Bay Company was to control the
chief part of the fur-trade of the Pacific Coast.

  [Illustration: FORT GEORGE.
   (_Astoria--as it was in 1813._)]

None of the Company's servants had yet penetrated as far west as
Athabasca. Yet it was the great northern department of Rupert's
Land--a country which, if not flowing with milk and honey, swarmed
with moose and beaver. To Athabasca, therefore, Robertson went.

[Sidenote: The Company in Athabasca.]

This first expedition was highly successful. Never had the natives
received such high prices for their furs. Seduced from their
allegiance to the Northmen, and dimly recalling the tales of their
sires, regarding whilom journeys to the posts of the Great Company,
they rallied in scores and hundreds round its standard. The news
spread far and wide. Other tribes heard and marvelled. They, too, had
listened to stories of the white traders, who far away, past rivers
and plain and mountain, sat still in their forts and waited for the
Red man to bring them furs. Now the Mountain was coming to Mahomet.
Many of them resolved to keep their furs until the traders from the
Bay came amongst them, too; and, gnashing their teeth, the Northmen
were compelled to give them still higher prices, if they would obtain
the goods of the savages, and secure their wavering loyalty.

  [Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE UPLAND INDIANS.]

Other measures became incumbent upon them to perform. They were
obliged to send double the quantity of merchandise into the interior,
and they were also to supply extra provisions to their own men, and to
raise their wages; while several clerks were elected partners. Cost
what it might, the Northmen were determined to fight to the end.

It has been shewn in preceding pages how the step of removing from
Grand Portage had been anticipated as far back as 1785, when Edward
Umfreville was sent to reconnoitre a site for a new fort on British
territory. None appeared more suited to the purposes of the
Nor'-Westers than this; the river was deep and of easy access, and
offered a safe harbour for shipping. On the other hand, it was
situated in low, swampy soil; but by dint of great labour and
perseverance they succeeded in draining the marshes and in converting
to solidity the loose and yielding soil, accomplishing on a small
scale much of what Czar Peter was obliged to do on a large scale with
the foundation of Petersburg.

[Sidenote: Fort William.]

When all was finished, Fort William as it was called,[97] presented an
engaging exterior. It possessed the appearance of a fort, having a
palisade fifteen feet high, while the number of dwellings it enclosed,
gave it, from a distance, the appearance of a charming village. In the
centre of the spacious enclosure rose a large wooden building,
constructed with considerable pretensions to elegance, a long piazza
or portico, at an elevation of five feet from the ground and
surmounted by a balcony, fronting the building its entire length. The
great hall or saloon was situated in the middle of this building. At
each extremity of this apartment were two rooms, designed for the use
of the two principal agents, and the steward and his staff, the last
named official being a highly important personage. The kitchen and
servants' rooms were in the basement. On either side of the main
edifice was another of similar but less lofty extent, each divided by
a corridor running through its length and containing a dozen cosy
bedrooms. One was destined for the wintering partners, the other for
the clerks. On the east of the square stood another building similar
to the ones named, and applied to the same purpose; also a warehouse,
where the furs were inspected and packed for shipment. In the rear of
these were the lodging house of the guides, another fur warehouse,
and lastly, a powder magazine, a substantial structure of stone with a
metal roof. A great bastion, at an angle of the fort, commanded a view
of Lake Superior. There were other buildings to the westward, stores,
a gaol, workshops of the carpenter, cooper, blacksmith and tinsmith,
with spacious yards for the shelter, repair and construction of
canoes. Near the gate of the fort, which faced the south, were the
quarters of the physician and the chief clerks, and over the gates was
a guard-house. The river being of considerable depth at the entrance,
the Company had a wharf built extending the whole length of the fort,
for the discharge of the vessels it maintained on the lake, and for
the transport of its furs from Fort William to Sault Ste. Marie or
merchandise and provisions from the latter place to Fort William. The
land behind the fort and on both sides was cleared and under
cultivation.

  [Illustration: ON THE WAY TO FORT WILLIAM.]

[Sidenote: The immigrants at Red River.]

At the beginning of spring the "first brigade" of immigrants resumed
its journey to the Red River Valley, arriving at what is now known as
Point Douglas, late in August, 1812. Hardly had they reached this spot
than they were immediately thrown into the greatest fright and
disorder. A band of armed men, painted, disfigured and apparelled
like savages, confronted this little band of colonists and bade them
halt. They were told briefly that they were unwelcome visitors in that
region, and must depart. The colonists might have been urged to make a
stand, but to the terrors of hostile Indian and half-breed was added
that of prospective starvation, for none would sell them provisions
thereabouts. The painted warriors, who were North-West company Métis
in disguise, urged them to proceed to Pembina, where they would be
unharmed, and offered to conduct them there. They acquiesced, and the
pilgrimage, seventy miles farther on, was resumed. At Pembina they
passed the winter in tents, according to the Indian fashion,
subsisting on the products of the chase, in common with the natives.

When spring came it was decided to again venture to plant the colony
on the banks of the Red River. Means were found to mollify their
opponents, and log-houses were built, and patches of prairie sown with
corn. A small quantity of seed wheat, obtained at Fort Alexander,
yielded them handsome returns at harvest time and the lot of the
settlers seemed brighter; but nevertheless they decided to repair to
Pembina for the winter, and saving their corn, live by hunting until
the spring.

While affairs were thus proceeding with the colonists, Lord Selkirk,
in 1813, paid a visit to Ireland, where he secured a large number of
people as servants for the fur-trade and the colony, in addition to
those engaged in the Highlands.[98]

Selkirk infused new life into the Company, and a number of plans for
its prosperity emanated from his brain. For a long time the Company
had had much at heart the erection of a new factory in place of York
Factory, but they had not thitherto had sufficient strength of hands
to accomplish this. Selkirk wrote to McDonnell that if the settlers
were employed in that object for the winter, the Company stood ready
to pay their wages. "Perhaps," he added, "it would be more advisable
to do this than to make an abortive attempt to reach the interior....
I believe that I mentioned that I am anxious to have the soundings of
Nelson River taken, from Seal Island down to the open sea. I beg that
while you are at York, you will try to induce some of the officers of
the ships to go and make the survey. I will pay a handsome premium to
the individual who accomplishes it."

  [Illustration: THE COMPANY'S SHIPS IN 1812.
   (_From the picture in Hudson's Bay House._)]

[Sidenote: Irish colonists brought out.]

On June 28, the Company's ships, the _Prince of Wales_ and the
_Eddystone_, sailed out of the little harbour of Stromness. They were
accompanied by two other vessels, one a brig bound for the Moravian
missions on the Labrador coast, and the other his Majesty's sloop of
war _Brazen_, as armed convoy. The voyage was by no means as
monotonous as such voyages usually were. On board the _Prince of
Wales_, typhoid fever of a virulent character broke out, causing a
panic and a number of deaths, marine funerals being a daily
occurrence. As for the _Eddystone_, an insurrection occurred; during
which the sailors and passengers between decks sought to obtain
possession of the ship and dispose of her, together with cargo and
effects to France or Spain, or to the ships or colonies of those
hostile countries. The captain was, however informed of the plan, and
immediately placed armed men to guard the hatches, loaded the quarter
gun with grape shot and coolly awaited the advent on deck of the
conspirators. These appeared in due course, but were quick to perceive
themselves completely non-plussed and retired below in confusion.

On the 12th of August the little fleet found an anchorage in Churchill
River, in close proximity to the new fort Prince of Wales. Here the
immigrants were landed, and after a short rest were sent forward, some
on foot and others by boat, to a place known as Colony Creek. Here
they built log cabins, and in their weak, unacclimatized state, drew
together to pass the winter in those hyperborean regions. In order to
receive the scant rations dealt out to them by the Company at the
fort, they were obliged to perform a journey of thirty miles on
snowshoes each week. But the trials and hardships of the poor
wanderers, amongst which was the deprivation of the locks of their
guns "in order that they should not kill the Company's partridges,"
came to an end in April, when their gun-locks were restored and they
took up their journey to York Factory, slaying innumerable game as
they went. Here they met from the Chief Factor, Cook, a hospitable
reception, and continuing their journeyings after a short halt,
reached Fort Douglas in the early autumn. Governor McDonnell welcomed
the members of this second brigade and proceeded to allot to each head
of a family one hundred acres of land and an Indian pony. A few days
later they were called together, and after each had been regaled with
a glass of spirits, he was furnished with a musket, bayonet and
ammunition. They were told they must offer an armed resistance to
their tormentors and aggressors should they again appear, and
admonished that the strong could dictate to the weak. Notwithstanding,
the colonists could not but marvel at the plentiful lack of
preparation for the agricultural pursuits which they had intended to
follow in this remote region. There were no farm implements, nor was
there metal of which these could be fashioned, unless it was the
formidable battery of field-guns, or the plentiful supply of muskets
and bayonets. At Fort Douglas, under the circumstances, the colonists
could remain but a short time; it was necessary for them to resort,
as their forerunners had done, to Pembina, so as to be within
convenient distance of the buffalo.

  [Illustration: FORT DOUGLAS, RED RIVER.
   (_From a drawing by Lord Selkirk._)]

In the spring of 1814, the colonists, after a winter rendered
miserable by the jealousy and unfriendliness of the Indians and
half-breeds, returned to Red River in a state of great destitution,
resolved never to return again to Pembina, no matter what their
circumstances.

But a step had been taken during that winter by Governor McDonnell
which was to reverberate throughout the English-speaking world.
Incensed at the boycotting of the colonists and stirred to action by
their condition, he issued from Fort Daer, which was the Company's
post erected at Pembina, the following proclamation:

     Whereas, the Right Honourable Thomas, Earl of Selkirk, is
     anxious to provide for the families at present forming
     settlements on his lands at Red River and those on the way to
     it, passing the winter at York and Churchill Forts in Hudson's
     Bay, as also those who are expected to arrive next autumn,
     rendering it a necessary and indispensable part of my duty to
     provide for their support. In the yet uncultivated state of the
     country, the ordinary resources derived from the buffalo and
     other wild animals hunted within the territory, are not deemed
     more than adequate for the requisite supply.

[Sidenote: Governor McDonnell's proclamation.]

     Whereas, it is hereby ordered that no person trading furs or
     provisions within the territory for the Honourable the Hudson's
     Bay Company, or the North-West Company, or any individual or
     unconnected traders or persons whatever, shall take any
     provisions, either of flesh, fish, grain or vegetables,
     procured or raised within the said territory, by water or land
     carriage, for one twelvemonth from the date hereof, save and
     except what may be judged necessary for the trading parties at
     this present time within the territory, to carry them to their
     respective destinations; and who may, on due application to me,
     obtain a license for the same.

     The provisions procured and raised as above shall be taken for
     the use of the colony; and that no loss shall accrue to the
     parties concerned, they will be paid for by British bills at
     the customary rates. And be it hereby further made known that
     whosoever shall be detected in attempting to convey out, or
     shall aid or assist in carrying out, or attempting to carry
     out, any provisions prohibited as above, either by water or
     land, shall be taken into custody and prosecuted as the laws in
     such cases direct; and the provisions so taken, as well as any
     goods and chattels, of what nature soever, which may be taken
     along with them, and also the craft, carriages and cattle
     instrumental in conveying away the same to any part out to any
     settlement on Red River, shall be forfeited.

     Given under my hand at Fort Daer (Pembina), the 8th day of
     January, 1814.

          (Signed) MILES McDONNELL, _Governor_.
               (By order of the Governor).

               (Signed) JOHN SPENCER, _Secretary_.

A copy of this proclamation was despatched in all haste to Fort
William, where the partners met in the spring. It excited the greatest
indignation and bitterness. It was now determined to seduce and
inveigle away as many of the colonists as could be induced to join the
North-West standard, and after they should have thus diminished their
means of defence, to exhort the Indians of Lac Rouge, Fond du Lac and
other places, to rise and destroy the settlement. It was likewise
their avowed intention to seize the Governor and carry him to Montreal
as a prisoner, by way of degrading the authority under which the
colony was established, in the eyes of the natives of that country.

[Sidenote: Hostilities planned by the North-West concern.]

Among the partners of the North-West concern who received their
instructions from this general annual meeting at Fort William, were
Duncan Cameron and Alexander McDonell, and these were the persons
selected by the partnership to superintend and execute the plans
entered into against the Red River colony. On the 5th of August the
last named person wrote to a fellow-partner at Montreal from one of
the portages lying between Lake Superior and the place of his winter
destination in the interior, to which he was then proceeding: "You see
myself, and our mutual friend, Mr. Cameron, so far on our way to
commence open hostilities against the enemy in Red River. Much is
expected from us, and if we believe some--perhaps too much. One thing
is certain, that we will do our best to defend what we consider our
rights in the interior. Something serious will undoubtedly take place.
Nothing but the complete downfall of the colony will satisfy some, by
fair or foul means--a most desirable object if it can be
accomplished. So here is at them, with all my heart and energy."

McDonell and his co-partner accordingly proceeded towards their
destination, and arrived about the end of August at a trading post
(called by them Fort Gibraltar) belonging to the North-West concern,
situated at the Forks, within half a mile of the Red River settlement.
Cameron remained here during the winter, while his partner, McDonell,
proceeded farther into the interior, returning in the month of May
with a party of Cree Indians from a considerable distance, for a
purpose which is now obvious.

Cameron, to whom his associates appear to have confided the task of
opposing, upon the spot, the further progress of colonization, was
well qualified to perform such a service. He began by ingratiating
himself amongst several of the heads of families in the settlement,
and being able to converse with many of them in their native Gaelic
tongue, by degrees he gained their confidence and good opinions. He
frequently invited them to his house, and, in short, took every means
to secure their favour. They saw no reason to suspect his intentions;
and thus the influence which he gradually acquired over many of their
members, during the autumn and winter, was artfully exerted to make
them discontented alike with their situation, their officers, and
their prospects. He alarmed them with constant reports which he stated
he had received from the interior, that the Indians from a distance
were coming in the spring to attack them; and that unless they placed
themselves under the protection of the North-West Company, and
accepted his offers to take them to Canada, they would never be able
to escape from the country or avoid the dangers surrounding them.

[Sidenote: The North-West company causes discontent among the
settlers.]

Prior to the departure of Cameron and McDonell from Fort William for
Red River, they had adopted the expedient of providing themselves with
British military uniforms. A military coat with a pair of epaulets,
the cast-off uniform of a major, which had previously adorned the
person of a factor named McLeod, now added to Cameron's dignity. He
pretended to bear the King's commission, as did also his companion;
and these two worthies occasionally rode around the country in
uniform, attended by a numerous suite of clerks and half-breeds, and
other servants of the North-West company on horseback. Such imposture
and assumed airs of authority would have evoked merely contempt or
laughter, but under the circumstances had great weight with the
ignorant settlers, who could not but help believing that Cameron and
his followers were sanctioned by Government in their position and
behaviour. The North-West agents now proceeded to put their plans into
execution. The immigrants were alternately bribed, cajoled and
threatened into abandoning their settlement on the Red River. To each
Cameron engaged to give a free passage to Canada (generally to
Montreal), a twelvemonth's supply of provisions _gratis_ for
themselves and families, while various sums, varying from £15 to £100,
were paid or promised to deserters. A pretext being found, Spencer,
the sheriff of the colony and a really valuable officer, was taken
prisoner under a warrant from a North-West partner, and after a
protracted detention sent overland to Montreal.

During the interval between the autumn of 1814 and the spring of 1815,
a number of the settlers were seduced and instigated to disloyalty
against their benefactors and the Company. A large band of the
Bois-Brulés were, during this period, maintained and paraded in arms
under Cameron, who, now that the preparatory measures had reached this
stage, believed the time ripe for more decisive measures.

Of the ruling spirit amongst the half-breed hordes, mention has
already been made. Cuthbert Grant now appeared on the scene and with
him some of his choicest dare-devil crew. The return of the settlers
to the colony had filled the minds of the Bois-Brulés with rage. The
contempt of the wild hunters of the plains for the peaceful tillers of
the soil was great. They scorned them for their manual labour; they
reproachfully termed them "the workers in gardens," and the phrase,
"pork-eaters," formerly applied to the voyageurs east of Fort William,
was now used derisively to the Scotch settlers. All now looked
forward to a grand gathering in the spring at "The Forks," to
administer a final blow to the infant colony.

The disaffected settlers were therefore, during the temporary absence
of a number of those who still continued faithful to their contracts
and their duty, incited to rob and pillage a fort belonging to the
settlement, and of the cannon set out by the British Government for
its defence. Armed sentinels were placed at different doors to prevent
opposition, while a part of the Bois-Brulés and servants of the
Nor'-Westers, under the command of Cameron, were stationed in arms
within the distance of a few hundred feet for the purpose of giving
support to the plunderers in case their force should be insufficient.
Nine pieces of artillery were thus taken from the settlement and
delivered to the North-West party in waiting, who received them with
shouts of triumph and conveyed them to their headquarters, Fort
Gibraltar. To celebrate this exploit Cameron gave a ball and
entertainment to the parties engaged, on the following evening.

[Sidenote: Attack on the settlement.]

A camp was now established at a place called Frog Plain, about four
miles below the settlement, by the servants and partisans of the
North-Westers, under the command of McDonell. In June, 1815, after the
colony had been thereby deprived of the means of defence, and was in
great measure surrounded by its enemies, the whole force of Cameron's
post, consisting of half-breeds, servants and North-West clerks,
sallied forth to make a combined attack on the settlement. A sharp
fire of musketry was kept up for some time on the Governor's house and
adjacent buildings. In this attack only four persons belonging to the
settlement were wounded, but one died soon after. Several days passed,
the men encamped at Frog Plain received orders to march to the
settlement, where they erected a battery against the building called
the Government House, on which they planted a portion of the cannon
previously taken. After a series of attacks and skirmishes, Governor
McDonnell was obliged to surrender himself as a prisoner, and under a
warrant from a partner in the North-West company, sent to Montreal,
charged with an undue arrogance of authority to the detriment of the
fur-trade.

But the North-Westers were not yet satisfied. The principal person of
the settlement (and one who also held the appointment, from the
Hudson's Bay Company, of Governor of the district) was, it is true, in
custody; but having got possession of him, peremptory orders were
issued to Cameron directing the remaining settlers to leave the Red
River. The most wanton acts of aggression followed on the part of
Alexander McDonell, who, after Cameron's departure with his prisoner,
succeeded to the command at the Forks. The colonists were frequently
fired on; the farm-house was broken open and pillaged; a number of
farm labourers were arrested; horses were stolen and cattle driven
away. On the 22nd of June, another attack with fire-arms was made upon
the Governor's house, but the fire was not returned by the dispirited
settlers, who now resolved to migrate.

[Sidenote: Forced departure of the colonists.]

An episode occurring on the very eve of their departure showed clearly
upon whose side the Indians of the interior were disposed to range
themselves. Two Saulteaux chiefs, with about forty warriors of that
nation, arrived at the settlement. Learning the condition of affairs
they went over to the North-Westers' fort, and endeavoured to prevail
upon McDonell to cease his persecution and allow the colonists to
remain. Naturally, their request was refused, although the Indian
numbers prevented the North-West official from laughing in their
faces. To McLeod, the Hudson's Bay factor at Fort Douglas, the Indians
expressed their regret; but considering the armament at the disposal
of their foes, could offer them merely the protection of an escort
down the river to Lake Winnipeg. The offer was thankfully accepted,
and under their Indian escort, the officers and remaining settlers,
amounting to about sixty, quitted the settlement, leaving McLeod and
three clerks behind. Having in this manner quitted their homes, they
proceeded in canoes to the mouth of the Red River, crossed Lake
Winnipeg and took up a new abode at a trading-post on Jack River
belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company.

  [Illustration: THE FUR LOFT AT A HUDSON'S BAY POST.]

The day following their departure, a party of North-West company
clerks, servants and half-breeds gathered at the spot, and setting
fire to the houses, the mill and the other buildings, burned them to
the ground.

Great joy filled the breasts of the North-Westers assembled at Fort
William when these brave tidings were conveyed to their ear. These
tidings were accompanied by convincing proofs of the great victory
gained over the enemy, in the persons of one hundred and thirty-four
settlers, including men, women and children. They arrived about the
end of July and found many of the partners gathered to receive them.
The conduct of Cameron and McDonell met with the most enthusiastic
approval. They were again appointed to command at the same stations in
the interior, which they had charge of the previous season, with a
view to oppose any further attempt to restore the scattered colony on
Red River.

[Sidenote: Treachery rewarded.]

While, however, these marks of approbation were lavished upon the
heroes of this work of destruction, the subordinate agents were by no
means so liberally rewarded as they had reason to expect. They even
complained of being defrauded of their promised hire. Many of the
deserters from the colony, however, and those of the settlers whose
treachery had proved most useful to the Montreal Company, were well
rewarded for their services. One of the most interesting features of
this business well deserves to be rescued from oblivion. It is the
account-book captured in the following year by Lord Selkirk, together
with other papers and effects of the North-West Company at Fort
William, and despatched for safe-keeping to Hudson's Bay House, in
London. It shows that credits were given to forty-eight of these
persons for various articles which they had plundered from the
settlement and delivered to Cameron at Fort Gibraltar. These consisted
principally of implements of husbandry, working tools, horses,
muskets, guns, pistols, etc., etc. Thus in one of the pages appears a
credit "for five new guns, £10; for a new common pistol, 15s.; one old
gun, 15s.," etc., etc. At the bottom of these accounts were generally
added the amounts they were to receive, and did receive, as rewards
for their services against the settlement. Several thus obtained
larger sums than, in all probability, they had ever been possessed of
at any one period in the course of their lives. To many of their
accounts were also subjoined, in the handwriting of Cameron and
McDonell, brief abstracts of the services which these deserters had,
respectively, performed in promoting the destruction of the
settlement.

As an illustration of this, honourable mention is made of one of them
(in the handwriting of Cameron) in this style: "This man joined our
people in February, was a great partisan and very useful to us ever
since, and deserves something from the North-West company, say five or
six pounds." Of another, "This man was also a great partisan of ours,
and made himself very useful to us; he lost his three years' earnings
with the Hudson's Bay Company for joining us, and he deserves, at
least, about £20." Of another (inscribed by Alexander McDonell): "He
was very desperate in our cause this spring and deserves three or four
pounds." There are other entries, as follows: "An active, smart
fellow. Left the Hudson's Bay Company in April last--a true partisan,
steady and brave. Took a most active part in the campaign this spring,
and deserves from £15 to £20. He has lost about £20 by leaving the
Hudson's Bay Company a month before the expiration of his contract."

"This man left the Hudson's Bay Company in the month of April, owing
to which he lost three years' wages. His behaviour towards us has been
that of a true partisan--a steady, brave and resolute man; and was
something of a leading character among his countrymen, and deserves at
least about £20."

[Sidenote: Leaves from the account book.]

But the truest of all these "partisans" appears to have been one
George Campbell. This hitherto obscure personage was accordingly
conspicuously honoured, as well as rewarded, by the North-West
company. He was seated at table in their common hall at Fort William,
next to the partners, and above the clerks of the company. Enviable
distinction! But it was but as the shadow of a more tangible and,
doubtless, to its recipient, a more valued reward. By the direction of
the partnership he received a recompense of £100, paid to him by one
of the company's clerks. In the account-book above mentioned appears
Cameron's testimony to the merits of this hero. "This (George
Campbell) is a very decent man, and a great partisan, who often
exposed his life for the North-West company. He has been of very
essential service in the transactions of Red River, and deserves at
least £100, Halifax; and every other service that can be rendered him
by the North-West company. Rather than that his merit and services
should go unrewarded, I would give him £100 myself, although I have
already been a good deal out of pocket by my campaign to Red River."

One would fain linger in the common-hall, at Fort William, the
barbaric splendour and even opulence of whose creature comforts have
been painted for us by another and more gifted hand.

How deep the potations, how turbulent the revelry when the flushed
cohorts from Red River returned and took their places at the board,
conscious of a victory gained over their hated rivals, the
Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay, and those miserable
colonists despatched by their Governor to begin the peopling of the
West! Moreover, tidings now came to swell their joy that the war
between Great Britain and America was ended, and so further relieved
their dread of disaster. But decisive as their triumph seemed, it was
short-lived. Even in the midst of this vulgar wassail the despised
settlers had returned, and affairs at Red River were shaping for a
tragedy.

FOOTNOTES:

[96] The precise spot was well chosen by Selkirk, had his object been
only the confusion and discomfiture of the North-Westers. It was the
great depot of the latter for the preparation of pemmican. Were the
region to become colonized it would slowly but surely cut off the
buffalo, from which pemmican was made, and eventually force the
North-Westers to import from Canada, at ruinous expense, the chief
part of the provisions requisite for their trading expeditions.

[97] In honour of William McGillivray, principal partner of the
concern.

[98] "It will never do," wrote Governor McDonnell to his chief, "to
take the colonists from among the Company's servants. The Orkneymen
are so averse to labour that they prefer the Company's service to
agriculture, and all being engaged in the name of the Company they
object to serve in the colony, thinking it a separate concern."




CHAPTER XXXI.

1816-1817.

     A New Brigade of Immigrants -- Robert Semple -- Cuthbert
     Grant's Letter -- The De Meuron Regiment -- Assembling of the
     Bois-Brulés -- Tragedy at Seven Oaks -- Selkirk at Fort William
     -- McGillivray Arrested -- Arrest of the Northmen -- Selkirk
     proceeds to Red River.


A new brigade of emigrants had sailed from Stromness. Gloomy and
portentous was the prospect which greeted them on their arrival. They
beheld their comrades and fellow-countrymen of the previous brigade,
who had returned from their exile at Jack River, still gazing in
wretchedness upon the embers of their late dwellings, seeking to
rescue what produce remained in the earth for their winter's
subsistence.

The ship which had brought out these immigrants had also carried an
able officer of the Company, Robert Semple, a man of parts and
culture, who had been appointed to the chief control of all the
factories in Rupert's Land.

[Sidenote: Influence of the Nor'-Westers over the half-breeds.]

The hostile feuds and lawless proceedings of the fur-trading
"partisans" had convulsed the whole Indian country throughout its
boundaries. The arrival of more immigrants only served to add fresh
fuel to the flame. It cannot be denied that between the two rival
companies the North-Westers possessed one dangerous advantage, viz.,
the authority and influence they had over the half-breeds, their own
servants, and over many of the more dissolute Indians. "They had so
trained and influenced these," says, with great truth, one sober
trader writing of those times, "both in the school of mischief, rapine
and bloodshed, that no outrage which the unscrupulous ministers of a
lawless despotism could inflict was too extravagant to dread.[99]
Posts were pillaged, robberies committed, and valuable lives
sacrificed without remorse."

Instead of settling down quietly and cultivating the soil on their
arrival, all the immigrants were quickly dispersed in search of a
precarious subsistence at Pembina and elsewhere, as had been the case
with the first unhappy brigade. They separated, to weather the storms
of winter as best they might, hunting and fishing amongst the savages,
and enduring every species of privation and suffering which fate could
inflict upon them. As soon, however, as the snows of winter were
melted, all re-assembled at the colony, and fell to with a will to the
task of tilling the ground, and sowing what, alas, the fowls of the
air were to reap.

[Sidenote: Lord Selkirk arrives in Canada.]

For a moment let us turn to Lord Selkirk. On the arrival of this
nobleman at New York on his way to Canada to support in person the
exertions of his colonists, he received intelligence of their
dispersion, and the capture of his lieutenant and agent. He
immediately proceeded to Montreal where he was apprised of the danger
with which the new arrivals were threatened as well as the distress
which had overtaken those settlers who had been brought into Canada.
The North-West Company had no further use for their services, the
expense of bringing them down having already proved sufficiently
burdensome. The alluring promises made on the banks of the Red River,
of lands, high wages, practical encouragement, were forgotten on the
shores of the St. Lawrence. Selkirk was determined upon a rigid
enquiry; and steps were taken by his agents in Upper and Lower Canada
to that end. While he was thus engaged, information arrived of the
re-establishment of the colony, both brigades of immigrants having
made a junction at Red River, on the departure of Cameron and
McDonell. Lord Selkirk, having despatched a messenger[100] into the
interior to advise the settlers of his speedy arrival amongst them,
now renewed his endeavour to obtain from the Governor of Canada, Sir
Gordon Drummond, some small military protection for the settlers. But
his application was refused. One, if not the principal, of the reasons
being that Drummond had no desire to lower his popularity by exerting
his influence against the partners of the North-West Company. The
attempt proving fruitless, a new resource offered itself, and this
Selkirk was not loath to seize.

As a result of the termination of hostilities with America, the hired
European regiments of De Meuron, Watteville and the Glengarry
Fencibles in Canada were reduced. The privates, as well as their
officers, were entitled on their discharge to grants of lands in
Canada, and in the event of their accepting them, the members of the
two first-mentioned regiments were not to be sent back to Europe. A
proposition was put to them and agreed to with alacrity.

[Sidenote: Regiment of De Meuron.]

The regiments to which these men belonged were part of the body of
German mercenaries raised during the Napoleonic wars. Col. De Meuron,
one of the most illustrious officers, bequeathed his name to the whole
body. Though Germans for the most part, Swiss and Piedmontese were
also numbered amongst them. While the great Corsican was languishing
at Elba, the De Meurons were equally inactive at Malta, but in the war
which had broken out between England and the American States there was
plenty of work for their swords. They were shipped to Canada, and in
1816, hostilities having ceased, they were again out of employment.

Lord Selkirk perceived in them an instrument ready to his hand. He
sent for their officers, four in number, Captains d'Orsonnens and
Matthey, and Lieutenants Fauché and Graffenreith, and informed them he
had work in hand. They listened and agreed to his terms on behalf of
their men. They hastened in boats up the St. Lawrence, and at Kingston
encountered twenty other foreign soldiers belonging to the De
Watteville regiment, and also victims of peace. These were engaged on
the same terms.

Eighty soldiers and four officers of De Meuron's regiment, twenty of
Watteville's, and several of the Glengarry Fencibles, with one of
their officers, instead of remaining in Canada, preferred going to the
Red River settlement on the terms proposed by Lord Selkirk. They were
to receive pay at a certain rate per month for navigating the canoes
up to Red River, were to have lands assigned to them at the
settlement, and if they did not elect to remain were to be conveyed at
his lordship's expense to Europe by way of Hudson's Bay. Whatever we
may now think of the motive prompting the employment of these men, it
must be conceded that it was effected with propriety and ingenuous
formality. The men being discharged could no longer be held soldiers.
They retained their clothing, as was usual in such cases, and Lord
Selkirk furnished them with arms, as he had done to his other
settlers. Had there existed a disposition to criticise this latter
measure, ample justification was to be found in the instructions of
the Board of Ordnance, in 1813, to issue some field pieces and a
considerable number of muskets and ammunition for the use of the Red
River colony.

With this body of men Selkirk proceeded into the interior.

[Sidenote: Fort Gibraltar captured.]

While he was on the march, the colony on Red River was apprehending
alarming consequences. Cameron and McDonell, the two North-West
partners, had arrived the previous autumn and been astonished at the
temerity of the settlers at returning to the forbidden spot, and
measures had at once been taken to molest and discourage them.
Thereupon the Hudson's Bay factor, Colin Robertson, who, in Governor
McDonnell's absence, had placed himself at their head, planned an
attack upon Fort Gibraltar, which he seized by surprise in the month
of October. He thus recovered two of the field pieces and thirty stand
of arms, which had been abstracted from the settlement in the previous
year. In this capture no blood was shed, and although Cameron was
taken prisoner he was released upon a promise to behave peaceably in
future and was even reinstated in possession of his fort. But this
posture of affairs was not long to endure.

At the beginning of March, Governor Semple went west to inspect the
forts on the Assiniboine, Lake Manitoba, and Swan Lake, leaving
Robertson in command. On the 16th, suspecting a plot on the part of
Cameron and his North-Westers, Robertson intercepted some letters,
which transformed suspicion into conviction. He therefore attacked the
North-West post, took Cameron prisoner, and removed all the arms,
trading goods, furs, books and papers, to Fort Douglas.[101] He
furthermore informed his enemy that being situated at the confluence
of the two rivers, the Red and the Assiniboine, Fort Gibraltar was the
key to the position, and could be in no other hands but those of the
lords of the soil. Following up this move, Robertson attacked the
North-West post on the Pembina River, captured Bostonnais Pangman, who
was in charge, with two clerks and six voyageurs, who were afterwards
incarcerated in Fort Douglas. Pursuing his advantage an attempt was
made to carry Fort Qu'Appelle. But McDonell, who was in command there,
displayed considerable force, and caused the Hudson's Bay people to
retire.

About this period five flat-bottomed boats belonging to the Company,
laden with pemmican and from thirty to forty packs of furs, under
charge of James Sutherland, were _en route_ to Fort Douglas. McDonell
was advised of the circumstance and seized the whole, while retaining
two of the factors, Bird and Pambrun, as prisoners. A canoe was given
Sutherland and the others, together with a scanty supply of pemmican,
and they were allowed to continue their journey to the fort. On
receiving intelligence of this proceeding, as well as of the plots
being hatched by the half-breeds and their allies in the West,
Robertson concluded that Cameron would be best out of the way; the
prisoner was accordingly sent off under guard to York Factory, from
whence he reached England seventeen months later. Here he was released
without a trial, and soon afterwards returned to Canada, where he
spent the remainder of his years.

The enemy were no sooner out of Fort Gibraltar than Robertson had the
walls pulled down. All the useful material was rafted down the river
to Fort Douglas, where it was employed in new erections within that
post.

[Sidenote: Plan to exterminate the Red River Settlement.]

McDonell now exerted himself to the utmost to assemble the half-breeds
from every quarter, for the purpose of a final extermination of the
colony at Red River. Many of these were collected from a very distant
part of the country; some from Cumberland House and also from the
Upper Saskatchewan, at least seven hundred miles from the settlement.
Reports had reached the colonists, of whom there were, all told,
about two hundred, that the Bois-Brulés were assembling in all parts
of the north for the purpose of driving them away. Each day increased
the prevalence of these rumours. The hunters, and the free Canadians
who had supplied them with provisions, were terrified at the prospect
of the punishment they might receive at the hands of the violent
North-Westers.

About the close of May the North-Wester, Alexander McDonell, embarked
in his boats with the furs and bags of provisions which he had seized,
as above related, from the Hudson's Bay people. He was attended by a
body of the half-breeds on horseback, who followed him along the banks
of the river.

When the party arrived near the chief Hudson's Bay Company's post,
Brandon House, Cuthbert Grant was sent ahead with twenty-five men, who
seized the post and pillaged it, not only of all the English goods,
together with the furs and provisions belonging to the Company, but
also of the private property of their servants, which was distributed
amongst the servants and half-breeds. The latter were now eager for
the accomplishment of their great desire. Accordingly, on the 18th of
June, Cuthbert Grant, Lacerte, Frazer, Hoole and McKay were sent off
from Portage la Prairie, with about seventy men, to attack the colony
at Red River. McDonell himself, foreseeing the issue, prudently
remained behind.[102]

The tidings he anticipated would arrive were not long delayed. On the
20th of June a messenger, covered with sweat, returned from Cuthbert
Grant, to report that his party had killed Governor Semple, with five
of his officers and sixteen of his people. At this welcome news of the
consummation of their fondest hopes, McDonell and the other officers
shouted with joy. No time was lost in spreading the story. The
unhappy Pambrun, from his confinement, could distinctly hear the cries
of the French and half-breeds, which they caught up again and again in
a paroxysm of triumph.

"Sacré nom de Dieu! Bonne Nouvelles! Vingt-deux Anglaise de tués!"

  [Illustration: SCENE OF THE RED RIVER TRAGEDY.]

[Sidenote: The affair at Seven Oaks.]

The story of this tragedy of the plains, to which for a time was
cynically applied the term, "battle," has been often and variously
narrated; but the facts seem clear enough. Semple the Governor, was
on the point of returning to York Factory on the concerns of the
Company, when the rumours of immediate hostility, which have been
described, checked his departure. Measures of precaution were adopted
and a watch regularly kept to guard against surprise. On the 17th of
June, two Cree Indians who had escaped from the party of North-Westers
under McDonell, came to the Governor at Fort Douglas, adjoining the
settlement, with the intelligence that he would certainly be attacked
in two days by the Bois-Brulés, under Cuthbert Grant, who were
determined to take the fort, and that if any resistance were made,
neither man, woman or child would escape.

Peguis, chief of the Swampy Indians, who came periodically to the
district about the mouth of the Red River, also waited on Governor
Semple for the purpose of offering the services of his tribe, about
seventy in number, to assist in the colonists protection.

A conflict seemed inevitable. On the afternoon of the 19th a man in
the watch-house called out that the half-breeds were coming. Governor
Semple and his officers surveyed the neighbouring plains through their
telescopes and made out the approach of some men on horseback. These
were not, however, headed in the direction of the fort, but of the
settlement.

  [Illustration: THE SHOOTING OF GOVERNOR SEMPLE.
   (_See page 413._)]

[Sidenote: Killing of Governor Semple.]

Semple's words were: "We must go out and meet these people; let twenty
men follow me." They proceeded by the frequented path leading to the
settlement. As they went along they met many of the colonists, who
were running towards them, crying: "The half-breeds! The half-breeds!"
An advance was made of about one mile, when some persons on horseback
were discerned in ambush, close at hand, and the Governor, somewhat
uneasy at the signs of their numbers, had just decided to send for a
field-piece, when a fearful clamour pierced the air, and he saw it was
too late. The half-breeds galloped forward, their faces painted in the
most hideous manner, and all dressed in the Indian fashion[103] and
surrounded the Hudson's Bay people in the form of a half-moon. As they
advanced the latter party retreated, and a North-West employee named
Boucher rode up very close to Governor Semple and asked what he wanted
there? To this enquiry, which was delivered in a very authoritative
and insolent tone, Semple replied by demanding of Boucher what he and
his party wanted? Boucher said: "We want our fort," and the Governor's
answer was: "Well, go to your fort." In a loud tone came the other's
rejoinder: "You damned rascal, you have destroyed our fort." Semple,
though a man of extremely mild manners and cultivated mind, flushed
with indignation at such an address, and incautiously laid hand upon
the bridle of Boucher's horse, according to some; of his gun,
according to others. A few high words passed. Two shots rang out in
quick succession, by the first of which Holt fell, and by the second
Semple was wounded.[104] In a few minutes the field was covered with
bleeding forms; almost all Semple's men were either killed or wounded.
Save in a single instance no quarter was given; the injured were
summarily despatched, and on the bodies of the dead were practised all
the revolting horrors which characterize the inhuman heart of the
savage.[105]

  [Illustration: VICINITY OF FORT DOUGLAS.]

In all twenty-one persons were killed, the remaining eight escaping to
the woods. Besides Governor Semple, Lieutenant Holt, Captain Rogers,
Dr. James White and Dr. Wilkinson, the Governor's private secretary
were amongst the dead.

Immediately every human being at Fort Douglas was plunged into
confusion and dismay. The survivors, hastily returning, told their
fell tale, and men, women and children crowded together seeking
protection within its walls. Bourke, and a few of his companions, had
succeeded in regaining the fort with the cannon he had taken out. All
waited for the expected attack of the North-Westers. An anxious night
ensued, but no attack, and it was afterwards learnt that the
Bois-Brulés had a wholesome dread of the cannon in the hands of the
settlers.

Pritchard, who had been taken prisoner to the camp ground of the main
body of the half-breeds, now begged Cuthbert Grant, the leader, to be
allowed to go to Fort Douglas. After securing his consent, he met with
a refusal on the part of the others, until he gave a promise to bear a
message of eviction to the colonists and return. Grant accompanied the
prisoner on parole as far as Seven Oaks, where the ground was still
strewn with the corpses of the slain.

[Sidenote: The Nor'-Westers demand evacuation.]

On reaching Fort Douglas, Pritchard informed the unhappy settlers that
they must depart, which if they did immediately, a safe escort would
be provided them, and they would be permitted to take all their
personal effects. They were told that two other groups of
North-Westers were daily expected to arrive in the locality, one
hailing from the Saskatchewan, and the other party from Lake Superior.
It would, therefore, be necessary to send some of the Bois-Brulés with
them, to explain the situation.

At first the colonists refused to listen to these terms. Sheriff
McDonnell, who was now in charge of the settlement, resolved to hold
the fort as long as the men were disposed to guard it. But they were
not long of this courageous temper. After fully considering the
situation, the settlers concluded to depart, and after several
conferences between the sheriff and Cuthbert Grant, a capitulation was
arranged.

An inventory of all the property was taken, and the whole delivered up
to the half-breed leader, for the use of the North-West company, each
sheet of the inventory being signed as follows:--

"Received on account of the North-West Company by me, Cuthbert Grant,
Clerk for the N.-West Co."

[Sidenote: Arrest of colonists.]

In two days the colonists, in all nearly two hundred, were ready to
embark for Hudson's Bay. Albeit they had not been long on the voyage
down the river before they were met by Norman McLeod, one of the
leading partners of the North-West company, accompanied by a large
party in canoes. At sight of the settlers the North-Westers set up an
Indian war-whoop, and when they drew sufficiently near, McLeod, who
posed as a magistrate, is said to have enquired, "Whether that rascal
and scoundrel Robertson was in the boats." The colloquy was followed
by a seizure of the accounts and papers of the settlers, including
some of Governor Semple's letters. Of these they kept what they deemed
proper, the rest being returned. McLeod took his magistracy very
seriously, and seems to have regarded the whole party as his
prisoners. He expressed neither horror nor regret at the murder of
Semple and his companions, but ordered Sheriff McDonnell, Pritchard,
Bourke, Corcoran, Heden and McKay to be arrested and put under a
strong guard. McDonnell was liberated on bail, but the others were
treated for nearly a week with the greatest indignity. Nevertheless,
the North-Westers felt themselves in a sorry plight, which, they
flattered themselves, a brazen behaviour might alleviate.

The five men thus made prisoners were, after various delays and after
two of them had been put in irons, conveyed to Fort William. They had
not long been inmates of quarters at this great post, when McLeod and
his party arrived there. With him came a number of the Bois-Brulés,
Semple's murderers, bearing a portion of the plunder which had been
reserved for the North-West company. Their arrival was the signal for
rejoicing. The air was filled with impromptu songs and ballads
commemorative of the happy event, which swept away the colony on the
Red River. The "complete downfall" desired by the North-West partner
seemed to have been consummated.

At that time Fort William was the great emporium of the North-West
company. An extensive assortment of merchandise was brought thither
every year from Montreal by large canoes or the Company's vessels on
the lakes, these returning with the furs to Canada and from thence
shipped to England.

It is difficult to imagine, as one visits the spot to-day, that it was
once the abode of industry, of gaiety, of opulence and even of
splendour. It boasted a fashionable season, which continued from May
to late in August, and during this period the fur aristocracy, the
_bourgeoisie_ and the _canaille_, met and mingled in a picturesque
carnival of mirth, feasting and exultation.

It was the meeting-place between the Montreal partners and voyageurs,
and those who coursed the boundless expanse of the distant west. To
the wintering clerks and partners, after their hardships and fasts in
the interior, Fort William seemed a foretaste of Paradise, and a
hundred journals of a hundred traders tell again the tale of a dream
of distant Fort William, which, in the midst of cold, hunger and
desolation, cheered the wanderer's heart and lightened his burdens.
For the voyageurs it was all in all. To reach Fort William, enjoy the
carnival, and betwixt drink and riotous living dissipate the
hard-earned wages of years was to them often the happiness of earth
and heaven combined.

[Sidenote: Fort William described.]

It was in the great dining-hall that there centred the chief glory of
Fort William. Of noble proportions was it, and capable of entertaining
two hundred persons, and here fully two hundred sat when the news from
Red River reached them. Let us attempt to describe the scene. There on
a glittering pedestal looked down on the joyous company a marble bust
of Simon McTavish; while ever and anon the eye of some struggling
clerk or ambitious partner would be attracted by a row of paintings,
depicting to the life the magnates of the North, and rest with ecstasy
upon those gleaming eyes and rubicund cheeks, cheerful prophesies of
his own roseate future. Not all were portraits of opulent
Northmen--other heroes lent the glory of their visages to this
spacious hall--the King in his majesty, the Prince Regent, and Admiral
the Lord Nelson. A gigantic painting of the memorable battle of the
Nile also adorned the walls. At the upper end hung a huge map of the
Indian country, drawn by David Thompson, he who had written at the
crisis of his career, "To-day I left the services of the Hudson's Bay
Company to join the North-West, and may God help me." On this
extraordinary production were inscribed in characters bold enough to
be seen by the humblest _engagé_ at the farthest end of the great
hall, the whole number of the Company's trading posts from Hudson's
Bay to the Pacific Ocean, from Sault Ste. Marie to Athabasca and the
Great Slave Lake. Many a time and oft while the feast was at its
height and the wine bottles of the partners were being broached and
the rum puncheons tapped, was a glance cast at some spot on that map
which marked months of suffering, the death place of a comrade, the
love of an Indian maiden, a thrilling adventure, a cruel massacre,
painful solitude, great rejoicing or a bitter disappointment.

But if the scene within was noisy and animated, that without beggared
description. Hundreds of voyageurs, soldiers, Indians, and half-breeds
were encamped together in the open, holding high revel. They hailed
from all over the globe, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany,
Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, America, the African
Gold Coast, the Sandwich Islands, Bengal, Canada, with Creoles,
various tribes of Indians, and a mixed progeny of Bois-Brulés or
half-breeds! "Here," cries one trader, "were congregated on the shores
of the inland sea, within the walls of Fort William, Episcopalians,
Presbyterians, Methodists, Sun-worshippers, men from all parts of the
world whose creeds were 'wide as poles asunder,' united in one common
object, and bowing down before the same idol." Women, soldiers,
voyageurs, and Indians, in ever moving medley, danced, sang, drank,
and gamboled about the fort on the night when the news came of the
tragedy of the Red River.

Meanwhile it will be remembered that the Earl of Selkirk was on his
way, with his party of about eighty soldiers, to the scene of this
rude rejoicing. When Sault Ste. Marie was reached, the first
intelligence of the massacre and destruction of the colony was
received, together with the news that some of the settlers and a large
part of the property had been transported to Fort William.

Filled with indignation, and determined to demand an explanation of
the bloody deed, the Earl pressed on with all haste to the rendezvous
of the North-West company, who, all unconscious of his approach, had
made no plan either to defend themselves or to arrest his progress.

[Sidenote: Selkirk arrives at Fort William.]

Upon his arrival in the vicinity many favourable to the Company came
out to meet him and relate the present state of affairs. As a
magistrate for the country, he secured a number of affidavits,
disclosing such circumstances of conspiracy and participation on the
part of the North-Westers as determined him, as it was his duty, to
issue warrants for their arrest. These were accordingly issued, first
for the apprehension of William McGillivray, the principal partner,
and next for that of all the other partners.

A great many of the North-West partners were at this time assembled at
Fort William, and amongst them was William McGillivray, their
principal agent in Canada. Lord Selkirk immediately despatched a
message to that gentleman, desiring to know by what authority and for
what reason Pritchard, Pambrun, Nolin and others from Red River were
detained as prisoners in their hands. McGillivray's response was to
grant permission to most of these prisoners to join Selkirk, to whom
he denied that they were detained, except as witnesses. The parties
thus freed came over, asserting that they had all suffered for some
time a rigorous confinement. The intelligence they conveyed was of
such a nature as to induce the Earl to issue warrants for the arrest
of most of the North-West partners then at Fort William.

[Sidenote: Arrest of the North-West partners.]

The first to be arrested was McGillivray, who submitted with the best
possible grace to the warrant. Two other partners who came over with
him, to offer themselves on bail (which was refused), were also taken
in custody. Instructions were now given to constables to again set out
in the boats, accompanied by some of the soldiers, to apprehend the
other delinquents. On their landing, four or five of the Northmen were
standing close to the gate of the fort, surrounded by a considerable
body of French-Canadians, Indians and half-breeds in the North-West
company's employment. The warrants were in the usual form served upon
two of the partners; but when the constable was proceeding to arrest a
third, he declared that there should be no further submission to any
warrant until McGillivray was liberated. At the same instant an
attempt was made to shut the gate and prevent the constables from
entering. The fort people had succeeded in shutting one half of the
gate, and had almost closed the other by force, when the chief
constable called out for help from the soldiers. These to the number
of about thirty forthwith rushed to the spot, and forced their way
into the stronghold of the Northmen.

The notes of a bugle now rang out across the river. The Earl
understood the signal, and a fresh force of about thirty other
veterans hurried quickly over the stream to join their comrades. Awed
by the apparition of so many arms and uniforms, the North-Westers
abandoned further resistance, and thus bloodshed was happily averted.
The partner who had refused obedience to the warrant was seized and
taken forcibly to the boats, the others submitting peaceably to
arrest.

At the time this episode was in progress, there were about two hundred
French-Canadians and half-breeds, and sixty or seventy Iroquois
Indians in and about the fort.

A warrant having been issued to search for and secure the North-West
papers, seals were in due course put upon these and guards placed for
their security. The arrested men were transported to the Earl's camp;
but upon their pledging their word of honour that no further attempt
should be made to obstruct the execution of the law, and that all
hostile measures should be renounced, they were permitted that same
night to return to their apartments at Fort William.

Notwithstanding this, it was discovered next morning that the seals
had been broken in several places, and that many letters and papers
had been burnt in the kitchen in the course of the night. More than
this, a canoe loaded with arms and ammunition had been launched and
several barrels of gunpowder had been secretly conveyed from the fort.
These were afterwards traced to a place of concealment amongst some
brushwood close at hand. About fifty or sixty stand of Indian guns, to
all appearance freshly loaded and primed, were found hidden under some
hay in a barn adjoining the fort.

Owing to these discoveries, and suspecting treachery on the part of
the Canadians and Indians, the greater part of the latter were ordered
to evacuate the premises and pitch their tents on the opposite side of
the river. Having seen this carried out, and having secured all the
canoes of the enemy, Selkirk and his party came over and pitched their
tents in front of the fort and mounted guard. Soon after, the
North-West prisoners were sent off under escort to York, and finally
reached Montreal in a state of mind not difficult to conceive.

Fort William had been captured by Lord Selkirk. He himself, writing in
1817, observes, that "in the execution of his duty as a Magistrate,"
he had become possessed of "a fort which had served, the last of any
in the British dominions, as an asylum for banditti and murderers, and
the receptacle for their plunder. A fort which nothing less than the
express and special license of his Majesty could authorize subjects to
hold. A fort which had served as the capital and seat of Government to
the traitorously assumed sovereignty of the North-West. A fort whose
possession could have enabled the North-West company to have kept back
all evidence of their crimes."

"Heretofore," exclaims the Earl, "those who in the execution of the
laws obtained possession of such strongholds as served for the retreat
of banditti or murderers, were considered to have rendered a national
service, and were rewarded with public gratitude and thanks."

It can hardly be supposed that either the Canadians or the North-West
partners were animated by any such sentiments.

"That canting rascal and hypocritical villain, Lord Selkirk, has got
possession of our post at Fort William," was the phrase employed by
one of the aggrieved partners. "Well, we will have him out of that
fort," he pursued amiably, "as the Hudson's Bay knaves shall be
cleared, bag and baggage, out of the North-West. And this in short
order, mark my words."

[Sidenote: Selkirk winters at Fort William.]

But his lordship was by no means of so accommodating a temper, nor was
there anything to accelerate his abandonment of the post. Finding it
too late to continue his journey on to Red River, he despatched a
party of his men in advance, and himself resolved to pass the winter
as pleasantly and profitably as circumstances would permit at Fort
William.

McGillivray and his companions, upon reaching Montreal, were greeted
by an assembled host of their friends. Public opinion there was in
their favour, whatever it might be in other quarters. On all sides one
heard diatribes pronounced against Selkirk and the Hudson's Bay
Company, and little sympathy for the victims of the massacre. The
North-Westers were instantly admitted to bail, and warrants were sworn
out for the Earl's arrest. A constable was sent to Fort William to
execute them, but on his arrival found himself made prisoner, and his
authority treated with contempt. In a few days he was released and
ordered to return to those who had sent him on his unprofitable
mission.

Lord Selkirk was by no means idle at Fort William. He sent out parties
to capture other North-West posts, and in this way the forts of Fond
du Lac, Michipicoten and Lac la Pluie fell into his hands. When the
month of May arrived he was ready to take up his journey to the West.


FOOTNOTES:

[99] There is preserved a letter from the leader of the Bois-Brulés,
written to one of the partners. It bears date of 13th of March, 1816,
and runs as follows:--

     My Dear Sir: I received your generous and kind letter of last
     fall by the last canoe. I should certainly be an ungrateful
     being should I not return you my sincerest thanks. Although a
     very bad hand at writing letters I trust to your generosity. I
     am yet safe and sound, thank God! For I believe it is more than
     Colin Robertson, or any of his suit dare to offer the least
     insult to any of the Bois-Brulés, although Robertson made use
     of some expressions which I hope he shall swallow in the
     spring; he shall see that it is neither fifteen, thirty nor
     fifty of your best horsemen can make the Bois-Brulés bow to
     him. Our people of Fort des Prairies and English River are all
     to be here in the spring. It is hoped we shall come off with
     flying colours, and never to see any of them again in the
     colonizing way in Red River; in fact the traders shall pack off
     with themselves, also, for having disobeyed our orders last
     spring, according to our arrangements. We are all to remain at
     the Forks to pass the summer, for fear they should play us the
     same trick as last summer, of coming back; but they shall
     receive a warm reception. I am loath to enter into any
     particulars, as I am well assured that you will receive more
     satisfactory information (than I have had) from your other
     correspondents; therefore I shall not pretend to give you any,
     at the same time begging you will excuse my short letter, I
     shall conclude, wishing you health and happiness.

          I shall ever remain,
               Your most obedient humble servant,
                    CUTHBERT GRANT.

     J. D. CAMERON, ESQ.

[100] This messenger, Lagimoniere by name, was waylaid and robbed by
the North-Westers. He had previously made a hazardous winter journey
of upwards of 2,000 miles for the purpose of bringing to Montreal
intelligence of the re-establishment of the Red River Colony. He was
now attacked near Fond du Lac by some native hunters employed by the
North-West Company, who beat him in a shocking manner, besides
plundering him of his despatches, his canoe and all his effects. The
order to intercept him was issued on the 2nd of June by Norman McLeod
from Fort William; and the Indians who performed the service were
credited in the books of the partnership with the sum of $100. Several
of Lord Selkirk's letters were afterwards discovered at Fort William.

[101] Semple is said, on the authority of an eye-witness, Donald
Murray, yet living in 1891 (when a monument was erected to commemorate
the Red River tragedy), to have disapproved of Robertson's management
during his absence. This veteran was fond of relating that when
Robertson started for York Factory in a boat, taking Duncan Cameron a
prisoner, he insultingly hoisted a pemmican sack instead of the
British flag.

[102] The route taken by the Bois-Brulés was along the edge of the
swamps, about two miles out on the prairie from Fort Douglas, and from
that point gradually drawing nearer to the main highway, which is now
the northern continuation of Winnipeg's Main street, until it effected
a junction at a spot known as Seven Oaks. The name was derived from
the circumstance of seven good sized oak trees growing there, about
one hundred yards south of a small rivulet, now known as Inkster's
Creek.

[103] Their being painted and disguised, forms a very material fact,
because it shows a premeditation to commit hostilities. It was not the
custom of the Indians or Bois-Brulés to paint themselves, except on
warlike occasions. Seeing this party of horsemen were proceeding
towards the settlement, Semple directed about twenty men to follow him
in the direction they had taken to ascertain what was their object.
These took arms with them, but no ammunition. That Semple and his
party went out with no hostile intention is evident from there being
but twenty who went, whereas a much greater number who could have gone
and were desirous of going, were left behind.

[104] After the tragedy many of the settlers are said to have been of
the opinion that the first shot was fired by Lieut. Holt, whose gun
went off by accident, thus precipitating the conflict.

[105] While the affair was sufficiently horrible, there was yet room
for exaggeration in the tales of the survivors. "On my arrival at the
fort," declared Pritchard, "what a scene of distress presented itself!
The widows, children and relations of the slain, in the horrors of
despair, were lamenting the dead and trembling for the safety of the
survivors." It is to be noted that only one actual settler was killed,
and I cannot discover that the others had any white women-folk amongst
them.




CHAPTER XXXII.

1817-1821.

     The English Government Intervenes -- Selkirk at Red River --
     Makes a Treaty with the Indians -- Hostilities at Peace River
     -- Governor Williams makes Arrests -- Franklin at York Factory
     -- The Duke of Richmond Interferes -- Trial of Semple's
     Murderers -- Death of Selkirk -- Amalgamation.


Tidings of the brutal massacre of the 19th of June, and the subsequent
acts of robbery and bloodshed in the wilderness, reached London in due
course, awakening the Imperial authorities to the necessity of at once
terminating a strife which had now become chronic. In February, 1817,
therefore, while Lord Selkirk was still at Fort William, the
Governor-General of Canada received a despatch from the Home
Government, which contained the following passage:--

     You will also require, under similar penalties, a restitution
     of all forts, buildings and trading stations, with the property
     which they contain, which may have been seized, or taken
     possession of by either party, to the party who originally
     established or constructed the same, and who were in possession
     of them previous to the recent disputes between the two
     companies. You will also require the removal of any blockade or
     impediment by which any party may have attempted to prevent the
     free passage of traders, or other of his Majesty's subjects, or
     the natives of the country, with their merchandise, furs,
     provisions or other effects throughout the lakes, rivers,
     roads, and every other usual route or communication heretofore
     used for the purpose of the fur-trade in the interior of North
     America, and the full and free permission of all persons to
     pursue their usual and accustomed trade without hindrance or
     molestation. The mutual restoration of all property captured
     during these disputes, and the freedom of trade and intercourse
     with the Indians, until the trials now pending can be brought
     to a judicial decision, and the great question at issue, with
     respect to the rights of the companies, shall be definitely
     settled.

[Sidenote: Fort William restored to the Nor'-Westers.]

The Governor-General appointed Colonel Coltman and Major Fletcher, two
military personages of high character, to act as commissioners, in
order to carry out the Imperial Government's intentions. Coltman and
Fletcher left Montreal in the same month that Selkirk evacuated Fort
William. No sooner had Lord Selkirk and his party left this great
trading post than the Sheriff of Upper Canada arrived, and by virtue
of a writ of restitution took possession and restored it to its
original owners. The commissioners, confronted by this fact, continued
their journey on to Red River, arriving at Fort Douglas while Lord
Selkirk was still in that locality. They proceeded to execute their
commission, and to endeavour to restore the region to law and order.
The merchandise, provisions and furs were in the course of the summer
apportioned to their respective proprietors; the channels of
communication were opened, and in time the commissioners were enabled
to return to Canada, flattering themselves with the hope that the
orders of the Prince Regent would be everywhere obeyed. The
commissioners made a most circumstantial report of their mission, of
which both parties complained that neither had received justice, which
(as Senator Masson truly observes) was a very good reason for
supposing that the report was just and impartial.

Unhappily, this hope of theirs was not destined to be fulfilled. Fort
Gibraltar had been destroyed, but the North-Westers at once set about
erecting buildings for carrying on their trade. Selkirk meanwhile
devoted himself to the affairs of his colony, making provision for the
soldiers of the De Meuron and Watteville regiments according to the
contract mutually entered into. He allotted each man a plot of land
either in the vicinity of Fort Douglas, or on the other side of the
river, close at hand; and the officers were stationed amongst them.
This was done so that in case of any necessity arising, a signal from
headquarters would enable the whole body to join their commanders in
the fort at short notice. Everything was effected which, in his
opinion, could conduce to the well-being of the colony. Selkirk now
turned his attention to the Indians, whom he called together within
the walls of the fort, and after bestowing amongst them presents,
concluded the following treaty with them:--

[Sidenote: Treaty with Red River Indians.]

     This Indenture, made on the 18th day of July, in the
     fifty-seventh year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King
     George the Third, and in the year of our Lord, 1817, between
     the undersigned Chiefs and Warriors of the Chippeway or
     Saulteaux Nation, and of the Killistins or Cree Nation, on the
     one part, and the Right Honourable Thomas, Earl of Selkirk, on
     the other part. Witnesseth, that for and in consideration of
     the annual present or quit rent hereinafter mentioned, the said
     Chiefs have given, granted and confirmed, and do by these
     presents give, grant and confirm unto our Sovereign Lord, the
     King, all that tract of land adjacent to Red River and
     Assiniboine River, beginning at the mouth of the Red River, and
     extending along the same as far as the great Forks at the mouth
     of the Red Lake River, and along Assiniboine River as far as
     Musk-Rat River, otherwise called Riviere des Champignons, and
     extending to the distance of six miles from Fort Douglas on
     every side, and likewise from Fort Daer (Pembina), and also
     from the Great Forks, and in other parts extending in the
     breadth to the distance of two English statute miles back from
     the banks of the said rivers, on each side, together with all
     the appurtenances whatsoever of the said tract of land, to have
     and to hold forever the said tract of land and appurtenances,
     to the use of the said Earl of Selkirk, and of the settlers
     being established thereon, with the consent and permission of
     our Sovereign Lord, the King, or of the said Earl of Selkirk.
     Provided always, that these presents are under the express
     condition that the Earl, his heirs and successors, or their
     agents, shall annually pay to the Chiefs and Warriors of the
     Chippeway or Saulteaux Nation the present, or quit rent,
     consisting of one hundred pounds weight of good merchantable
     tobacco, to be delivered on or before the tenth day of October,
     at the Forks of the Assiniboine River; and to the Chiefs and
     Warriors of the Kinstineaux or Cree Nation, a like present, or
     quit rent, of one hundred pounds of tobacco, to be delivered to
     them on or before the said tenth day of October, at Portage de
     la Prairie, on the banks of Assiniboine River. Provided always
     that the traders hitherto established upon any part of the
     above-mentioned tract of land shall not be molested in the
     possession of the lands which they have already cultivated and
     improved, till his Majesty's pleasure shall be known.

     In witness whereof the Chiefs aforesaid have set their marks at
     the Forks of Red River on the day aforesaid.

          Signed,      SELKIRK.

     Signed in presence of Thomas Thomas, James Bird, F. Matthey,
     Captain; P. D. Orsonnens, Captain; Miles McDonell, J. Bate,
     Chr. De Lovimier, Louis Nolin, Interpreter; and the following
     Chiefs, each of whom made his mark, being a rude outline of
     some animal.

     Moche W. Keocab (Le Sonent); Ouckidoat (Premier alias Grande
     Oreilles); Mechudewikonaie (La Robe Noire); Kayajickebinoa
     (L'Homme Noir); Pegawis.

As a matter of fact, the Saulteaux Indians, who were given precedence
in the above treaty, had no real claim to the lands on the Red River,
which were possessed by the Crees alone. This latter tribe afterwards
took great offence at this circumstance and made various threats to
recede from their covenant and claim their lands from the settlers.
These threats, however, were not carried out. Selkirk having in this
manner arranged all to his satisfaction, bade farewell to Red River,
and accompanied by a guide and a few friends, directed his course
southward across the frontier into American territory. He made his way
to New York and there embarked for England.

It has been remarked that his Majesty's commissioners flattered
themselves that in the formal and peaceful manner described, law and
order was to be introduced into the North-West.

It is true that the proclamation of the Prince Regent and the creation
of the commission of inquiry had quieted much of the turbulence, and
that all who came in contact with the recognized officers were ready
to submit to their authority; but it was by no means so in the more
remotely situated departments.

[Sidenote: Attack on Fort Vermilion.]

Governor Robertson, Semple's lieutenant, had delegated his authority
to Clarke, another ex-employee of the North-West Company. This trader
now sought upon Lord Selkirk's authority to penetrate, with an
effective force, and a quantity of merchandise, into the very heart of
the territory occupied by the North-Westers. One of Clarke's first
acts on arriving at Peace River was to attack Fort Vermilion, with the
design of acquiring a supply of provisions; but here he met with so
vigorous a resistance that he was constrained to beat a retreat
without having succeeded in his project. On the other hand, two
partners, Black and McGillivray, on the pretence that Robertson had
incited the savages to massacre some of their number, and that their
men would refuse to serve if an example were not made, took him
prisoner to Fort Athabasca, and there confined him during an entire
winter. There were numerous examples of the abuse of force and the
utter abandonment to lawlessness during this and the following year.

[Sidenote: Arrest of Nor'-Westers.]

Upon most of those Northmen named in the warrants issued at the
instance of the Earl of Selkirk, it had been impossible to serve
papers owing to their absence in the distant fur country. Williams,
Semple's successor as Governor of the colony of Assiniboia, was
consumed with a desire to effect the arrest of all those persons
himself. It is possible that he also wished to avenge the
incarceration of Robertson. Taking with him a number of De Meuron
soldiers and two pieces of cannon, Governor Williams departed to lie
in ambush for the North-Westers at a portage called Grand Rapids,
which spot it was necessary for the enemy to pass in order to enter
Lake Winnipeg. Beyond question, the North-Westers had no suspicion of
what was in store for them, inasmuch as the party did not arrive in a
large body, but in small detachments, and successively, often at an
interval of several days. As fast as they arrived, however, Governor
Williams and his soldiers were on the watch. It was new work to the
veterans, but they entered into it with a zest and spirit. The
North-Westers were seized and disarmed, being subjected to
considerable violence. Some were permitted to continue their route;
others were dispatched to York Factory, on the Bay. Here they were,
during many weeks, detained as prisoners and treated with scant
courtesy, up to the arrival of a certain British naval officer. This
was Lieut. Franklin, who was then about to undertake his celebrated
land voyage to the Arctic Sea. Franklin had in his possession several
letters of introduction to partners in the North-West Company. Under
these circumstances the consideration, not to say compassion, which he
evinced for the Hudson's Bay Company's prisoners was much in their
favour. McTavish and Shaw, two of the North-West partners, were
granted permission to return to England as passengers on the ship
which had brought Franklin, but the others were not so fortunate.
Duncan Campbell was sent to Canada, _via_ Moose Factory and
Michipicoten, and there placed at liberty. As to Benjamin Frobisher,
there was no accusation or warrant of arrest against him, but it was
felt that he should not escape punishment for his long hostility to
the Company, as well as for the violent and crafty resistance which he
had offered in the first instance to his arrest. Frobisher is
described as being a man of great strength and herculean stature. On
numerous occasions he had had the good or ill-fortune to come in
contact with the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, and there were
many to testify that he had on such occasions not emerged with the
loss either of prestige or property. His whole ambition now, whilst
suffering from a severe wound in the head, was to escape from his
captors. The nearest North-West post was distant about five hundred
miles as the crow flies, but this circumstance had little restraining
power upon his project. Two of his French-Canadian companions,
Turcotte and Lépine, endeavoured to dissuade him, but without success;
and at length they consented to participate in the escape should it be
possible to elude the vigilance of their captors. They succeeded in
doing this on the 30th September; launched themselves in an old canoe,
into which they had stored some pounds of pemmican saved from their
rations, and so commenced their painful journey.

[Sidenote: Flight of prisoners from York Factory.]

For two whole months these three fugitives from York Factory travelled
through the wilderness. They suffered from cold and hunger, even
devouring the buffalo skins that the Indians had left suspended in the
trees as an indication of their route. At last the doughty Frobisher
arrived at such a state of weakness that he was fain to lie down
without further power of exertion. The trio were then not more than
two days' journey from Lac L'Orignal, near Lake Bourbon, where the
North-Westers had a post. Frobisher begged his companions, whose
greater power of endurance and devotion to their superior had led to
their carrying him on their shoulders, to leave him and seek
assistance. This they did, after having deposited their burden at the
side of a fire, and grilled a morsel of buffalo skin for his
nourishment. Four days later they reached the fort, and a search party
did not arrive on the spot until the 27th of November. Their eyes
were greeted by the corpse of Frobisher, partly burnt, and extended at
full length on the ground. Within his scanty clothing was found a
journal, which he had kept ever since his arrest at Grand Rapids, and
in which he had recorded his daily sufferings.[106]

After considerable delay the news of Frobisher's escape and subsequent
death was spread throughout the West. A courier arrived at Fort
William in hot haste with the news of the affair at Grand Rapids. The
utmost indignation prevailed. Many of the partners, fearing a descent
of the Hudson's Bay soldiery, left in disorder for Montreal. The
agents of the Company instantly addressed themselves to the Duke of
Richmond, then Governor of Canada, representing to him that if the
civil authorities did not interfere to compel respect for the orders
of the Prince Regent, the fortunes of the North-West co-partnery would
suffer a great and irreparable blow.

[Sidenote: Envoys of the Government enjoin peace.]

The Duke was then at Little York. He lost no time in dispatching one
of the officers of his suite, Major MacLeod, with a budget of
dispatches for delivery at the chief forts of the North-West. In these
he enjoined obedience to the laws. MacLeod was accompanied, at the
last moment, by Sir Charles Saxton. The envoys of the Governor reached
Fort William and pressed on to the Grand Rapids, where they learned
that Williams had raised the blockade of the river, and had left for
the Bay with his soldiers and prisoners. It was too late in the autumn
to follow them, so there was nothing left but to arrange to have their
dispatches forwarded to the parties in the interior, and to return
immediately to Little York. The alarm of the partners in Canada was
matched by that of their agents in London. They addressed themselves
to the Imperial Government, soliciting his Majesty's interference in
order to put an end to the outrages and lawlessness, as they expressed
it, of Lord Selkirk and the Hudson's Bay Company. They recalled that
they had often demanded that the rights of the Company should be
submitted to law, and warned the authorities that when their rivals
mocked the orders of the Prince Regent, it would be impossible for
themselves to confide their persons and their property to the
protection of an authority with a seat so remote and exacting, so
reluctant an obedience.

"What is to become of us," they demanded, "if we are to have no
protection for our servants in these wild regions of the North?"

"You have no right in these regions," was, in effect, the retort of
the Company. "They are vested in us by Royal charter, and the sooner
you apprehend this truth the better."

Whereupon the partners declared that if the Hudson's Bay Company or
Lord Selkirk continued to exercise illegal powers, which had for their
end the destruction of the commerce of their rivals, it was inevitable
that more bloodshed should follow. Such protestations had the desired
effect. The Government entered into correspondence with the directors
of the Company and ordered that they should exert themselves to the
utmost to prevent a repetition of lawlessness, else the consequences
must be on their own head.

[Sidenote: Trial of Semple's murderers.]

The trials which took place at Little York and at Montreal had been
very costly to both parties. Those relating to the Semple massacre
were not tried until 1818.[107] Application had been made to the
Governor-in-Chief of Canada in the previous March (1817) to have them
removed to Upper Canada, and this naturally caused delay, the
Governor judging it expedient to consult the Home Government in the
matter. A favourable reply was received on the 24th of October, and
warrants under the Great Seal were issued to try the cases at York.
The North-Westers were finally brought before the court, and
indictments found against them for participating in the affairs of the
11th of June, and the 28th of June, 1815; for larceny at Qu'Appelle
River on the 12th of May, and the Semple massacre on the 19th of June,
1816. It surprised nobody in Canada that the jury in each case brought
in a verdict of not guilty, however it may have astonished the British
public.

McGillivray, who had been waiting two years for trial, and now finding
the further indictments abandoned, caused Lord Selkirk, Miles
McDonnell, and eighteen others, to be indicted for the part they took
in the capture of Fort William. The Earl had also several civil suits
entered against him, one of which was by William Smith, the constable
whom he ejected from Fort William, "taking hold of him and pushing him
out of doors, and afterwards keeping him in close custody in the fort,
under a military guard." The constable got a verdict of £500 damages
against the Earl. Daniel McKenzie also entered suit against Lord
Selkirk, and received a verdict of £1,500.

[Sidenote: Prosperity at Red River.]

Whilst these various proceedings were in progress, the Red River
colony was struggling against adversity. In the winter of 1817 they
were forced to resort again to Pembina, owing to a scarcity of food.
The next year, when a considerable area of land had been planted, and
followed by a favourable summer, the July sky suddenly darkened, and a
cloud of grasshoppers descended upon the earth. Every green thing
perished before them. In greater despair and wretchedness than ever,
the colonists again migrated across the border. The same disaster
occurred in the ensuing year, and if it had not been for the bounty
and care of the Company, many would have perished. It was not until
1822 that the Red River colony, now recruited by French, Irish,
German and Swiss, as well as Scotch settlers, began to take on a
flourishing condition; but the news of this prosperity was not
destined to reach the ears and gladden the heart of its founder.
Selkirk had reached England disheartened, and with a well-founded
grievance against the Canadian authorities, who, he declares, and with
justice, had not accorded him the encouragement to which he had a
right; and against the Canadian tribunals, from whom it had been
impossible to obtain justice.

The health of the Earl, shattered by the anxieties and episodes which
have been recorded, rendered it necessary that he should seek repose
in the south of France. But his ailment was mortal. He breathed his
last at Pau, in the month of April, 1820, surrounded by his wife and
children, leaving behind him many friends, and numerous admirers of
his intellectual qualities and his courage. The Great North-West of
to-day is his monument.

The death of its principal Adventurer strengthened, on the part of the
Company, the sentiment for peace; and by removing the chief obstacle
hastened an amalgamation of interests of the rival traders. None then
could nor can now but perceive, if they examine the situation broadly,
that the complete annihilation of the North-West Association was a
mere matter of time. None recognized this more than their agents in
London, who had repeatedly made overtures to Lord Selkirk for
amalgamation, but which were by him rejected as often as made.

To Edward Ellice, a leading partner, an enterprising merchant, and a
rising parliamentarian, belongs the chief credit of bringing about
this union. This young man was the son of Alexander Ellice, a wealthy
London merchant, and himself directly interested in the Canadian
fur-trade. In 1803, when a lad of but fourteen, young Ellice had gone
out to Canada, and animated by a love of adventure, had entered into
the life of a trader, under the auspices of his father's friends.
Ellice was quick to grasp the tendency of affairs. The terrible
struggle of recent years made by the Northmen had told severely upon
them.[108]

  [Illustration: SIR GEORGE SIMPSON.]

The partners met at Fort William, in July, 1820, and a stormy session
served to reflect their vexed plight. Dissensions exhibited
themselves; the minority, at least, felt that in their London
agents--Ellice and the McGillivrays--coming to terms with the Hudson's
Bay Company, lay their only hope of salvation.

[Sidenote: Union of the two Companies.]

Without, however, consulting the powers at Fort William, these agents
in London were acting on their own account. Conferences with the
Chartered Adventurers took place daily. By the time the partnership
between the Northmen themselves expired, in 1821, the negotiations had
attained the form of an agreement. Delegates had been sent from Fort
William to confer with their English representatives as to the future
of the interests of the North-West Company. Ellice received them
cordially in his office in Mark Lane and showed them an instrument
which he called the Deed Poll. This document bore the names of the
Governor, Berens, and the Committee of the Honourable Hudson's Bay
Company, on the one part, and the McGillivrays and Ellice, on the
other. The astonished delegates gazed upon the signed and sealed
instrument, and recognized that the North-West Company had ceased to
exist. "Amalgamation," cried one of them, "this is not amalgamation,
but submersion. We are drowned men."

A coalition and partnership had been agreed upon for twenty-one years,
on the basis that each should furnish an equal capital for conducting
the trade. This Deed Poll, which bore date of March 26, 1821, provided
that the expenses of the establishment should be paid out of the
trade, and that no expense of colonization or any commerce not
directly relating to the fur-trade, was to fall upon the Company.

The profits were to be divided into one hundred equal parts, of which
forty were to be shared between the chief factors and chief traders,
according to profit and loss. If a loss should occur in one year on
these forty shares it was to be made good out of the profits of the
year ensuing. A general inventory and account was to be made out
annually on the 1st of June. If profits were not paid to any parties
within fourteen days of that date, interest was to be allowed then at
the rate of five per cent.

When the Deed Poll was signed, it was stipulated that twenty-five
chief factors and twenty-eight chief traders should be appointed, to
be named in alternate succession from the Hudson's Bay and the
North-West Company's servants. Both were placed on an equal footing,
the forty shares out of the hundred being again subdivided into
eighty-five shares, in order that each of the twenty-five chief
factors should receive two (or 2/85ths), and each of the chief traders
one of such shares. The remaining seven shares, to complete the
eighty-five, were set apart for old servants, to be paid them during a
term of seven years.

[Sidenote: Plan of union.]

The chief factors were to superintend the business of the Company at
their respective stations, while the chief traders under them were to
conduct the commerce with the Indians. The third class was the clerks,
who were promoted to factorships and traderships, according to good
conduct and seniority, but whose clerical salaries ranged from £20 to
£100 per annum. The chief factors and traders, who wintered in the
interior, were granted, in addition to their share of profits, certain
personal necessaries free of cost. They were not, however, permitted
to carry on any private trade on their own account with the Indians.
Strict accounts were required of them annually. The councils at the
various posts were empowered to mulct, admonish or suspend any of the
Company's servants. Each year three chief factors and two chief
traders were granted twelve months leave of absence. A chief factor or
chief trader, after wintering three years in the service might retire,
and hold his full share of profits for one year after so retiring,
with half the share for the four succeeding years. If he wintered for
five years, he was granted half profits for six years on retiring.
Retirements of chief factors and chief traders were made annually by
rotation, three of the former, or two of the former and two of the
latter. The heirs of a chief factor or chief trader who died after
wintering five years received all the benefit to which the deceased or
himself would have been entitled had he lived, or in proportion
otherwise. Everything was thus regulated, provision was effected for
everything. The Northmen, rough, enterprising, adventurous, as many of
them were, found themselves part of a huge machine, operated with
sleepless vigilance of a governor and committee in London. As for the
profits, they were to be estimated after the entire expenses, both in
London and the fur country, were deducted. They were then to be
divided into fifths, of which three-fifths went to the proprietary and
two-fifths to the chief factors, chief traders and clerks, who were to
be thenceforward known as the "fur-trade" or the "wintering partners."

No wonder that many of the Northmen were constrained to cry out, in
the language of one of their number[109]: "Alas, the North-West is now
beginning to be ruled with an iron rod!"

FOOTNOTES:

[106] Benjamin Frobisher was a native of York, England.

[107] At the trials at York in October, 1818, Sherwood, the North-West
Company's counsel, continually demanded to know why Semple was called
governor. "Why," he exclaimed, with ludicrous energy, "why should this
gentleman be continually dignified by the appellation of governor? The
indictment charged that Robert Semple was killed and murdered; it said
nothing about his being a governor. If he was a governor, then he was
also an emperor. Yes, gentlemen," shrieked the counsel, working
himself up to fever heat, "I repeat, an emperor--a bashaw in that land
of milk and honey, where nothing, not even a blade of corn, will
ripen. Who made him governor? Did the King? Did the Prince Regent? No;
this pretended authority was an illegal assumption of power,
arrogating to itself prerogatives such as are not exercised even by
the King of England. I demand that Robert Semple be called Robert
Semple--but as he was not a governor let us not be ----"

"Come, come," cried Chief Justice Powell, "do let this trial go on! It
is no matter whether he was or was not a governor, or what he was
called, or called himself, he is not to be murdered, though he was not
a governor."

[108] "Ses postes," says Senator Masson, "avient été pillés et
devastés; ses exportatiors considerablement sédintes." On the other
hand, he adds, these losses were partly compensated for by the high
prices secured in England for their furs.

[109] Wentzel.




CHAPTER XXXIII.

1821-1847.

     The Deed Poll -- A Governor-in-Chief Chosen -- A Chaplain
     Appointed -- New License from George IV. -- Trade on the
     Pacific Coast -- The Red River Country Claimed by the States --
     The Company in California -- The Oregon Question --
     Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825 -- The _Dryad_ Affair --
     Lieutenant Franklin's two Expeditions -- Red River Territory
     Yielded to Company -- Enterprise on the Pacific.


By the terms of the Deed Poll, the immediate control of the Company's
affairs in its territory passed from the hands of a committee sitting
in London, to a personage known as Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land
and his council. His commission extended over all the Company's lands
and possessions, with an unlimited tenure of office. The council was
to be composed of chief factors, and occasionally a few chief traders,
who were to meet at some convenient centre for the purposes of
consultation, this particular feature being a survival of the
rendezvous of Fort William. The chartered territories and circuit of
commercial relations were divided into vast sections, known as the
Northern, Southern, Montreal and Western Departments. The Northern
extended between Hudson's Bay and the Rocky Mountains, the Southern,
between James' Bay and Canada, including a part of the eastern shore
of Hudson's Bay.

[Sidenote: Governor Simpson.]

Such a Governor-in-Chief should be a person of energy, shrewdness and
ability. Mr. Ellice had been struck by the qualities and special
aptitude for this important post of a young Scotchman, named George
Simpson. This young man was an illegitimate son of the maternal uncle
of Thomas Simpson, the Arctic explorer. While clerk in a London
counting-house, George Simpson had attracted the attention of Andrew
Colville, Lord Selkirk's brother-in-law, who sent him to Rupert's Land
in the service of the Company. The responsibility was a tremendous
one, but Simpson did not flinch from accepting it; and the end showed
the wisdom of the appointment. For nearly forty years this man stood
at the head of the fur-trade: a potentate in the midst of the
wilderness, the virtual ruler of almost one-half of a continent.
Governor Simpson was a man of small stature, but he had "the
self-possession of an emperor."[110] Accompanied by his voyageurs and
clerks, he journeyed along the old Ottawa and lake route, through the
Grand Portage, or by Fort William and Lake of the Woods, accomplishing
this feat at least once a year throughout the entire period of his
rule. At the outset of his career he perceived that the management of
Red River colony was an extremely difficult task--harder perhaps than
the management of the fur-trade. But he attacked both with energy,
resolved to serve his employers, and to create, at all hazards,
harmony and prosperity in the territories.

Part of the time he spent at Red River, part in Oregon, in Athabasca,
and at Hudson's Bay. He crossed the Rocky Mountains at three different
latitudes, and journeyed extensively over the vast territory of which
he was truly the "commercial sovereign."

The appointment of the Rev. Mr. West as principal chaplain to the
Company led to very great improvements in the moral and religious life
at the forts. Many of the traders and servants of the Company were
soon afterwards induced to marry the women with whom they had lived, a
material step towards the amelioration of the condition of the Indian
and half-breed females.

[Sidenote: Company obtains a new license.]

The next step on the part of the Honourable Adventurers was to further
safeguard their interests, and supplement their charter by a license
from the new king, George IV. This license was for the exclusive
privilege of trading with the Indians in such parts of North America
as were not part of the territories heretofore granted to the
Hudson's Bay Company. This Royal license, dated the 5th of December,
1821, at Carlton House, was expressly issued to prevent the admission
of individual or associated bodies into the British North American
fur-trade, inasmuch as the competition therein had been found for
years to be productive of enormous loss and inconvenience to the
Hudson's Bay Company and to trade at large, and also of much injury to
the natives and half-breeds.

  [Illustration: THE BOARD ROOM, HUDSON'S BAY HOUSE, LONDON.]

To anticipate events, it may here be remarked that this license
expired in 1842, but prior to its expiration an extension was granted
at the close of the first year of the reign of her present
Majesty,[111] for a further term of twenty-one years. By virtue of
these licenses the Company was granted exclusive trade in the Indian
territories west of the Rocky Mountains. It must be borne in mind, and
will be pointed out in a subsequent chapter, that it was of the utmost
moment for Great Britain to obtain a standing in Oregon and on the
Columbia River,[112] and the licenses were framed to this great and
desirable end.

Although, as has been shown, the North-West partners had made great
efforts and borne great sacrifices, to maintain the trade on the
Pacific, they were contending against great odds. The Russian
establishments at Norfolk Sound, and at other places on the coast,
even so far south as California, came to share in a virtual monopoly
with the Americans, who, after the Treaty of Ghent, began to send
ships from Boston to New York. The amalgamation of 1821 came about,
and the Hudson's Bay Company, invigorated by the infusion of new
blood, believed it their duty to seek to regain the trade. They
therefore set to work to re-establish British influence on the
Pacific.

It was no easy task. The Russians had gained a firm foothold, and the
Americans paused at no form of competition, nor any method by which
they might secure their ends. The natives had already become debauched
and now their debauchery spread from tribe to tribe, rendering
dealings with them difficult and formidable. Serious losses, both of
lives and property, were sustained through their savage attacks on the
Company's agents and trading posts. But the work was in the hands of
strong, able, and temperate men, who knew what the situation required
of them and did not shrink from meeting it fully and fearlessly. By
tact and vigorous measures the natives were restrained; at great
expenditure of money and patience, order was restored; and in ten
years time the Company occupied the whole country between the Rocky
Mountains and the Pacific. It maintained six permanent establishments
on the coasts, sixteen in the interior, and several movable posts and
migratory brigades. By 1835 it had a fleet of six armed vessels, one
of them propelled by steam, on the Pacific. Fort Vancouver, its
principal _entrepôt_ on the Columbia River, was surrounded by large
pasture and grain farms, maintaining large herds of horses and cattle,
and was a profitable and growing establishment.

It was a long time since the Company had cut any considerable figure
in international politics, but with the extraordinary growth of the
American States and the increase of the fur traffic of the Russians,
contemporary European publicists came again to speak of the prospect
of trouble over the Company's rights and boundaries.

[Sidenote: Claim of the United States to Red River.]

Before this time there had arisen a cry, sedulously seconded by the
Company's enemies, that the Red River region belonged to the United
States. Nothing can be clearer than that it was never for a moment
contemplated either by the British or American Government, that any of
the Hudson's Bay lands, or any of the waters running into Hudson's
Bay, would be included in the lines assigned as the boundaries between
the possessions of Great Britain and those of the States. It is
sufficiently demonstrated by the treaty concluded with America in 1794
that such an idea never existed in the minds of the negotiators. By
the third article of that treaty, which permits the most perfect
freedom of communication and intercourse between the subjects of both
nations throughout their respective dominions, an exception is made of
the country within the limits of the Hudson's Bay Company, to be
ascertained, of course, in conformity to their charter from which the
Americans are expressly excluded. The terms of the treaty concluded in
1783 with the United States show the express intentions of both
nations to have been that the northern boundary of the United States
should not, in any part, extend farther north than the River St.
Lawrence, or the lakes and streams which feed or fall into it.

The unhappy feature of the matter was that a great part of the second
article of the treaty of 1783 was drawn up in complete ignorance of
the geography of the country. It is so full of contradictions that it
became impossible afterwards to lay down a line which should follow
that article literally. In this dilemma the only fair method of
solving the difficulty was to return to the principles which governed
the framing of the article.

  [Illustration: RED RIVER CART.]

[Sidenote: The Treaty of 1783.]

At the close of the Revolution the chief aim of the American
negotiators, as is evinced throughout their correspondence, was to
obtain a recognition of the right of their country to the western
territory as far as the St. Lawrence on the north, and the Mississippi
on the west. When the British Government acceded to this proposition
it was regarded by the Americans as an important concession, and their
plenipotentiaries proceeded upon that concession as the principle on
which their boundary towards Canada, after it had struck the St.
Lawrence, was to be defined. They brought the line from Nova Scotia to
the St. Lawrence, and then followed up the main stream of the river to
what they believed to be its principal source, and what was supposed
to approach the nearest to the source of the Mississippi. In fanciful
conformity to this intention, the second article of the treaty of
1783, after having carried the line to Lake Superior, stipulates that
it shall be continued onwards through the middle of certain water
communications to the north-west point of the Lake of the Woods, and
thence due west to the Mississippi. The fact, however, is that the
waters of the Lake of the Woods feed streams which fall into Hudson's
Bay, but have no communication with any waters which fall into Lake
Superior. It is also a fact that a line drawn due west from the Lake
of the Woods would never reach the Mississippi, which lies far to the
south of such a line.

But there was a reason for such egregious blundering. The country had
never been surveyed by men of science. Its physical features had been
derived from the vague and inaccurate accounts of ignorant traders and
bushrangers, which had formed the basis for the current maps. These
laid down a large river running from the Lake of the Woods and falling
into Lake Superior. If there had been such a river in existence, there
can be no doubt, from the body of waters contained in the Lake of the
Woods, that it would have been a much larger stream than any of the
feeders of Lake Superior. It was therefore most natural that the
negotiators should suppose the Lake of the Woods to be the main source
of the St. Lawrence. At the same time this must have appeared to them
the point at which the waters of the St. Lawrence approached the
nearest to the source of the Mississippi, because in the maps of the
bushrangers the Mississippi is laid down as rising four or five
degrees of latitude farther north than it does in fact, and as coming
within a short distance of the Lake of the Woods on the west.

As the negotiators in Paris in 1783 reposed the greatest confidence in
these crude productions of the cartographer, is it surprising that the
second article of the treaty should be full of inconsistencies? On any
other supposition the intention of the negotiators would be fatuous
and incomprehensible.

[Sidenote: Examination of American claims.]

This brings us to the whole point involved in the American contention,
which deprived Great Britain and the Company of a vast territory to
which the United States possessed no shadow of right. Where the limits
of a country have never been ascertained the conquest of the
contiguous and encroaching territory may be justly considered as
establishing the bounds originally claimed by the victorious nation;
and this was the case with regard to Canada and the territory of the
Company. But where between two powers there have been no defined
limits, and no conquests have determined the claims of either, the
pretensions of both might be fairly adjusted by laying down as a rule
that "the priority of right should be considered as vested in each, to
the respective countries, which each have either principally or
exclusively frequented."

The Spaniards west of the Mississippi never extended their
establishments nearly so far north as latitude 42, while the Hudson's
Bay limits were long frequented by the English. On what ground,
therefore, could the Americans, the successors merely to the rights
derived from the Spaniards, claim all the country of the Sioux, the
Mandans and many other tribes on the upper branches of the Missouri?

Nevertheless the States, after their purchase of Louisiana, continued
to put in claims for a more northerly and westerly boundary, with what
ultimate result we shall see. It is only pertinent to remark here,
that nothing could be more absurd than the idea that Spain ever
contemplated the cession of any territory on the Pacific Ocean, under
the name of Louisiana.

The interior river waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin had
attracted the attention of the Company even before the American
trappers had reached them, and traders remained there in unmolested
possession long after the Russians had left the country. The feeble
frontier guard could do nothing but protest, and ultimately when the
trappers had nearly exhausted the outlying districts and desired to
penetrate into the centre of the State, the American Government
admitted them under an agreement with the Hudson's Bay Company,
whereby a tax of fifty cents was to be paid for each beaver skin.

A year before the amalgamation the north-west coast for the first time
engaged the attention of the American Government,[113] and what came
to be known as the Oregon Question had its birth. The States possessed
no title to the country, but a strong party believed that they had a
right to found by occupation a legitimate title to a large portion of
the territory in question. The matter was brought up at several
sessions of Congress, and the utmost was done by such legislators as
Floyd and Benton to flog it into an active issue. It was claimed that
"the United States, through Spain, France and her own establishments,
had the undisputed sovereignty of the coast from latitude 60° down to
36°." A bill was introduced for the occupation of the Columbia, grants
of lands to settlers, and regulation of Indian affairs. But the
Government was by no means so sure of the wisdom of such a proceeding;
the bill was repeatedly shelved. The restoration of Fort George
(Astoria) by the British was one of the strong arguments used.

In the meanwhile Russia had declared that the north Pacific coast down
to latitude 51° belonged to her exclusively. All foreign vessels were
prohibited from approaching within a hundred Italian miles of any part
of the coast. America protested, and between 1821 and 1824
negotiations were carried on between the two powers.

[Sidenote: Russian claims.]

Russia flatly asserted that the boundary question was one between
herself and Great Britain, with which the Americans had no legitimate
concern; and offered proofs that the treaty with Spain gave the United
States a right only to territory south of 42°. A conclusion was,
however, reached in the Treaty of 1824, by which the boundary was
fixed at 54° 40', beyond which neither nation was to found any
establishment, or to resort, without permission; while for a period of
ten years both nations were to have free access for trade and fishery
to each other's territory.

In the following year was concluded a treaty between Russia and Great
Britain,[114] by which the former again relinquished her claim not
only to the region below latitude 54° 40', but to the vast interior
occupied by the Company up to the Frozen Ocean. No objection to this
was urged by America, although some of her statesmen sought to take a
hand in the matter, and proposed a joint conference. Great Britain's
reply to this proposition was to decline to recognize the right of the
United States to any interest in the territory in question. The recent
promulgation of the Monroe doctrine had given offence not only to her,
but to Russia as well, and both were prepared to combat American
pretensions.

Although his Majesty's ministers had refused to treat for a joint
convention, yet in 1824 negotiations were begun in London, between
Great Britain and America, for the ownership of the northern Pacific
coast. The British commissioners showed clearly that the Americans had
no valid claim to the territory occupied by the Company.

  [Illustration: FUR TRAIN FROM THE FAR NORTH.]

[Sidenote: Temporary arrangement between England and the States.]

The mere entrance of a private individual, such as Captain Gray, into
a river could not give the States a claim up and down the coast to
regions which had been previously explored by officially despatched
British expeditions like that of Cook. It was emphatically denied that
the restoration of Fort Astoria, under the Treaty of Ghent, had any
bearing on the title. Nevertheless, Great Britain was willing to
accept as a boundary the forty-ninth parallel from the mountains to
the Columbia (then known as McGillivray River), and down that river to
the sea. But the Americans were obdurate; a deadlock ensued and the
convention of 1818 remained in force. The Company repeatedly urged the
Government not to abandon one inch of territory rightfully under the
Crown, to the United States. Nevertheless, a settlement of the Oregon
Question was highly desirable. If in spite of the treaty of 1818 the
States should attempt to occupy the territory, war would be
inevitable. If on the other hand the treaty should expire without any
attempt at American occupation, Great Britain would be, by the law of
nations, the party rightfully in possession. A new conference was held
in London, in 1827; but it was impossible to agree on a boundary, and
the only thing possible was a compromise to the effect that the treaty
of joint occupation should be indefinitely renewed subject to
abrogation at any time by either party on twelve months' notice. Thus
the _statu quo_ was maintained, and the Hudson's Bay Company remained
in actual possession of the profits of the fur-trade for many years to
come.

In 1828 Governor Simpson believed it advisable to make a general
survey of the western posts, with the object of impressing peace and
good-will upon the natives, and also to acquire a further knowledge of
the needs and abilities of the Company's officers and servants in that
quarter. This journey of the Governor, undertaken in considerable
state, was from York Factory to the Pacific. He was accompanied by a
chief factor, Archibald Macdonald, and a surgeon named Hamlyn.
Fourteen commissioned gentlemen, as the chief factors and chief
traders were called, and as many clerks, accompanied the party to the
canoes, and amidst great cheering and a salute of seven guns, bade
them God-speed. Simpson entered Peace River on the 15th of August, and
reached Fort Vermilion in due course, three hundred and twenty miles
from the mouth, which was then in charge of Paul Fraser. From here he
proceeded to Fort St. James, the capital of Western Caledonia, and the
chief depot for all the region north of the Fraser Forks to the
Russian boundary, including the Babine country. Forts Alexandria,
Kamloops and Vancouver were visited in due order, and in the following
year Simpson returned east by way of the Columbia.

In an attempt to enter the Columbia River in 1829, the Company's ship
from London, _William and Ann_, was wrecked on Land Island. Several of
the crew escaped and landed on Clatsop Point, where they were
immediately murdered by the natives, in order that the plunder of the
vessel might be accomplished without interruption. News of the
disaster was carried to Fort Vancouver, where the officer in charge,
McLaughlin, sent messengers demanding a restoration of the stolen
cargo. In response to this request, an old broom was despatched to the
fort, with the intelligence that this was all the restitution the
Clatsops contemplated. The schooner _Colbore_ was therefore sent on a
punitive expedition. Several of the tribe were wounded and a chief
shot, after which the Clatsops entered into a better frame of mind,
and expressed contrition for their behaviour.

Under the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825, the Company possessed the free
navigation of streams which, having their rise in British territory,
crossed Russian territory in their course to the sea. The Company were
not long in availing themselves of this privilege. Posts were
successively erected, as far as the Stickeen River; but seven years
afterwards there was yet no permanent post on that stream. It was,
therefore, decided to establish one, and a brig, the _Dryad_, was
accordingly fitted out and despatched from Fort Vancouver. But in that
year, 1833, the Russian Government had received the petition of its
subjects to rescind the proviso in the treaty favourable to the
British. The Company's enterprise in thus encroaching on Russian
territory had alarmed Wrangel, who was then in charge of the Russian
establishment[115] at Sitka, and he wrote to his superiors urging them
to memorialize the Emperor. He alleged that the Hudson's Bay Company
had violated its agreement to refrain from selling fire-arms or
spirituous liquors to the natives--an allegation which was not founded
on fact.

[Sidenote: The _Dryad_ appears.]

Believing that the situation called for instant action, Wrangel did
not wait to learn what course his Government would take in the matter,
but at once despatched two armed vessels to the entrance of Stickeen
River. A fort was hastily built on the site of an Indian village, guns
were mounted, and the Company's expedition awaited. All unconscious
the _Dryad_ force approached. Suddenly a puff of smoke and a loud
report arrested them, and several shots came from two vessels hitherto
concealed in the offing. While the astonished captain and crew put the
brig about, with a design to anchor out of range, a boat reached them
from the shore, bearing an officer in Russian uniform. He protested in
the name of the Emperor and the Governor of the Russian-American
possessions, against the entrance of a British vessel into a river
appertaining to those powers. The Company's agent attempted to argue
the matter, but his representations went unheeded. The Russian was
obdurate; they were all threatened with peril to their lives, and
their vessel, if the _Dryad_ did not immediately weigh anchor. There
was consequently nothing to do but to return.

The Company was indignant at this outrage. The forts it had already
built, together with the cost of fitting out the _Dryad_ and other
vessels, besides a vast quantity of provisions and perishable
merchandise sent into that country, had amounted to £20,000 sterling.
The Emperor had granted the petition of the Russian Company; and both
the British and the American Governments received notification that
the clause in the treaty would terminate at twelve months' notice. But
the _Dryad_ affair took place before this decision was made public.
The British Government very properly demanded immediate satisfaction,
and for a time public interest was keenly aroused. The Russian
Government merely consented to disavow the act of its officer; and
issued instructions prohibiting further hindrance to the trading
limits previously agreed upon.

The matter did not, however, receive settlement until 1839, in which
year a convention was held in London to arrange the points long in
dispute between the two companies. The matter was settled with
despatch. The Hudson's Bay Company's claim for compensation was waived
in return for a lease from the Russian Company of all their territory
on the mainland lying between Cape Spencer and latitude 54° 40'. For
this lease the Company agreed to pay an annual rental of two thousand
land-otter skins, and also to supply the Russians with provisions at
moderate rates.

In the last chapter, the expedition in 1819-20 of Lieutenant
(afterwards Sir John) Franklin, was alluded to.

Franklin and his party reached Fort Chippewyan on the 26th March,
after having travelled on foot eight hundred and fifty-six miles, with
the weather so intensely cold that the mercury continually froze in
the bulb. In July, 1820, they journeyed five hundred miles more to
Fort Enterprise, where the party wintered, Back returning to Fort
Chippewyan to procure supplies for the next season's operations. He
was eagerly awaited, and when he arrived, in March, 1821, he had a
tale of great hardship to relate. He had travelled over one thousand
one hundred miles, sometimes going two or three days without food,
with no covering at night but a blanket and deerskins to protect him
from the fearful rigours of fifty-seven degrees below zero. In June
the party started out from the Coppermine to reach the sea, which they
did in eighteen days. Their subsequent sufferings were of the most
dreadful description. When the survivors returned to York Factory,
they had travelled five thousand five hundred and fifty miles by land
and water; but their object was still unaccomplished.[116]

In 1825, Franklin entered upon a second journey to the shores of the
Polar Sea, again accompanied by Lieutenant Back and Peter Dease, one
of the Company's chief traders.

"The Governor and Committee took," says Franklin, "a most lively
interest in the objects of the expedition, promised their utmost
support to it, and forthwith sent injunctions to their officers in the
fur countries to provide the necessary depots of provisions at the
places which I pointed out, and to give every other aid in their
power."

Franklin descended the Mackenzie and traced the coast line through
thirty-seven degrees of longitude from the mouth of the Coppermine
River, where his former survey began, to near the one hundred and
fiftieth meridian, and coming within one hundred and sixty miles of
the most easterly point reached by Captain Beechy, who was exploring
from Bering's Strait.

  [Illustration: SIR GEORGE BACK, R.N.]

In 1832 the protracted absence of Captain (afterwards Sir John) Ross,
who had sailed three years before for the Polar regions, became cause
for anxiety. It was decided to send an expedition, commanded by
Captain Back, in search of this explorer, and the Government granted
£2,000 towards the expense, "it being understood that the Hudson's Bay
Company will furnish the supplies and canoes free of charge, and that
the remainder of the expense, which is estimated at £3,000, will be
contributed by Captain Ross's friends." The expedition sailed, but
after it had been absent one year, news reached them[117] that Ross
had returned safe and sound in England; and Captain Back was ordered
to attempt a completion of the coast line of the north-eastern
extremity of North America. The Company, through Sir George Simpson,
nominated four officers, in its service, to be placed under Back's
command.

In 1834 there was witnessed a confirmation of the Deed Poll of 1821,
with a more definite prescription of the duties and emoluments of the
Company's servants.

It was not until the year 1835 that Lord Selkirk's heirs determined to
give up their control of the Red River colony, and to surrender the
territories granted in 1811. The expenses incurred by the Earl in his
expeditions, and in his costly law suits, were estimated at a large
amount, and this the Company agreed to assume.

In 1839 a powerful blow was dealt at the prosperity of the Company by
the successful substitution of silk for beaver fur in the manufacture
of hats. The price of beaver almost instantly fell, and continued to
fall thenceforward for many years, inflicting great loss upon the
Company which was fortunately atoned for in other directions.

In this same year the Company, at the suggestion of Chief Factor
McLaughlin, demanded and obtained of the Russian Fur Company a ten
years' lease for trading purposes of a strip of land ten leagues wide,
extending north from latitude 50° 40', and lying between British
territory and the ocean, paying therefor two thousand east side land
otter, worth thirty-two shillings and sixpence each. Statesmen in
England marvelled at this arrangement, wondering why the Company
sought these ten leagues of Russian seaboard. But traffic with the
natives was only one of the objects of the Company, for they also
contemplated making a customer of the Russians for European goods, as
well as for those products of the soil which the inclemency of the
more northern regions prevented their rivals from raising.

Acting upon this arrangement, a party was organized at Montreal in
1839 to take possession of the leased territory. They set out from
York Factory in July, and travelled from thence by way of Edmonton,
Jasper House and Walla Walla to Fort Vancouver. In the following year
they proceeded to the Redoubt St. Dionysius, or as it was thereafter
called, Fort Stickine, the Russian post at the mouth of the Stickine
River, which was to be the British headquarters in the leased
territory. In charge of the fort they found a Russian officer with
fifty men, guarded by a brig of thirty-two guns. The officer was
informed by the Company's pioneers that they would remain with
eighteen men, at which the Russians expressed astonishment. They
informed young McLaughlin and W. G. Rae, who had been appointed to the
new post, that the savages were troublesome, that the chief had many
slaves skilled in assassination and accustomed to obey his murderous
orders. To which the Company's men replied, "Other forts we rule with
twenty men, and we will hold Stickine."

  [Illustration: THOMAS SIMPSON.]

To this period belong the adventures and the tragic end of Thomas
Simpson, the Arctic explorer. As a youth, Simpson had shown great
scholastic promise, and seemed destined for medicine, when fortune
tempted him to try the service of the Company. His cousin, George
Simpson, was then Governor of the Company's territories, and repeated
offers of a position decided the brilliant student to embark in the
fur-trade. He began work as secretary to Governor Simpson, with whom
he travelled from post to post for some time, until he settled down as
accountant at Fort Garry. But soon the Company had a duty for him to
perform. In order to strengthen their hand when applying for a renewal
of their general trading license, the Honourable Adventurers decided
to spend some money in exploring the Arctic coast. Young Simpson was
requested to undertake this arduous task. Exploration from the
Atlantic showed a defined coast line to within seven degrees of the
Great Fish River, and it was to devolve upon Simpson to explore the
intervening gap. The important duty was laid upon him of completing
the discovery of the northern coast of North America, and in
accomplishing this it was thought that the long-looked for North-West
passage would be brought to light. Simpson set out from Fort Garry in
the winter of 1836-37 and travelled on foot the whole distance to
Lake Athabasca, a matter of one thousand two hundred miles, where he
encountered Dease, the chief factor, who was nominally at the head of
the expedition. In the spring the party descended the Mackenzie in
open boats, coasting along to the westward until they attained the
farthest point attained by Franklin. From here a successful journey
was made to within a short distance of Point Barrow, when their
progress was arrested by the ice. After wintering at Great Bear Lake,
in the spring of 1838 the expedition again started for the coast,
crossing the Coppermine River and descending that stream to its mouth.
But to their great disappointment they found the coast ice-bound. In
the following spring they were more fortunate, finding the sea
comparatively open, and as before, Simpson struck off along the coast
on foot. The expedition returned by way of the Coppermine and Great
Bear Lake to the Mackenzie River, and here Simpson wrote a narrative
of the expedition while waiting for the freezing up of that stream. He
departed from Fort Simpson on the 2nd December, and reached Fort Garry
on 1st of February, covering a distance of one thousand nine hundred
and ten miles in sixty-one days, many of which were spent in enforced
delays at the Company's forts on the way. Simpson was greatly
disappointed to find on his arrival at Red River no letters from the
Company in London, inasmuch as he had offered to make another
expedition to complete the seven degrees still remaining of unexplored
coast. The Company had accepted his offer, and wrote to that effect,
but the letter arrived too late. The same mail also contained the news
that the Royal Geographical Society, in view of the success which had
attended his first expedition, had awarded him its gold medal; while
the British Government had bestowed on him a pension of £100 sterling
per annum. Simpson's later discoveries far excelled those he had made
in 1837, and no doubt the honours accorded him would have been very
great; but in 1840, while travelling, about three days' journey from
Fort Garry, in what is now Dakota, a tragedy took place, the details
of which are still wrapt in mystery. It appears that the party of
which Simpson was a member were arranging their camp for the night.
Their horses were grazing hard by. All were armed with guns and
pistols, for the Sioux were on the warpath. One of the party was
helping to pitch the tent when he heard the report of a gun. On
turning around he beheld Simpson in the act of shooting, first, John
Bird and then Antoine Legros, the former of whom fell dead, while the
latter had time to give his son a last embrace. According to this
witness, Simpson then spoke for the first time, demanding if he knew
of any plot to rob him of his papers. This was the last seen alive of
the Arctic explorer; next morning his dead body was found lying beside
the others he had slain. There is little doubt that he was the victim
of a fit of insanity, superinduced by the fear that one of his
fellow-travellers might report the results of the expedition to the
Company in England before him. His death removed an able and
distinguished explorer, who rendered good service to the Company.

In 1842 Lord Ashburton arrived in the United States, equipped with
instructions and powers for the settlement of certain questions long
pending between Britain and America. It was expected that the Oregon
boundary matter would be one of these, but this was not the case.[118]

Meanwhile the utmost excitement prevailed in Oregon, the settlers of
both nationalities claiming possession. Political meetings were held
on the part of the British, at which old Hudson's Bay Company servants
and ignorant voyageurs were nominated for office, the latter men,
"whose ideas of government," says McKay, "were little above those of a
grisly bear."

Travelling along the middle Columbia at this time was by no means
devoid of danger, owing to the animosity of the natives towards the
Americans. Their faith in the Company remained unshaken; but they were
subject to fits of suspicion and ill-temper, which were occasionally
fraught with considerable inconvenience for the Hudson's Bay servants.
In 1844, when J. W. McKay first came to Fort Vancouver, he found that
many of the Indians along the route were not to be trusted. Early in
1846 McKay was dispatched to California to ascertain what arrangements
might be made for securing certain supplies nearer than England, in
case the Company's farming establishment on the Columbia should be
surrendered to the United States.

In 1846 Joseph McKay was given the general supervision of the Pacific
establishments, in succession to James Douglas. Taking passage
northward in the _Beaver_ in October, according to the custom of the
general agent, he visited the several stations and made such changes
and left such instructions as he deemed advisable. The Russians he
found "affable and polite, but tricky." In August, 1847, he mentions
meeting a chief of the Stickine Indians, whom he had reason to believe
perfectly trustworthy. "He told me that he had been approached by a
Russian officer with presents of beads and tobacco, and that he was
told that if he would get up a war with the English in that vicinity
and compel them to withdraw, he should receive assistance in the shape
of arms and ammunition; and in case of success he would receive a
medal from the Russian Emperor, a splendid uniform, and anything else
he might desire, while his people should always be paid the highest
prices for their peltries."

In the East as in the West, at Red River, at Edmonton, and on the
Pacific, the old policy of procuring provisions and the necessaries of
life from England had been abandoned. The Company now raised horses,
horned cattle, sheep, and other farm stock. It owned large farms in
different parts of the country, grist mills, saw mills, tanneries,
fisheries, etc. From its posts on the Pacific it exported flour,
grain, beef, pork, and butter, to the Russian settlements; lumber and
fish to the Sandwich Islands; hides and wool to England. It opened the
coal mines at Nanaimo, after an unremunerative expenditure of £25,000
in seeking coal at Fort Rupert.

[Sidenote: Agricultural and mercantile enterprise.]

On the Pacific Coast, as many of the Company's men who could be spared
from the business of the fort, as well as such natives as had a
leaning towards civilization, were employed in clearing lands and
establishing farms. It was not difficult to convince these Indians
that they were pursuing the best policy, and they set to with a will
to help the white men and half-breeds, "becoming good bullock-drivers
and better ploughmen than the Canadians or Ranakes," to whom,
nevertheless, they gave freely of their women as wives, a circumstance
which tended to promote good behaviour amongst the medley throng of
Company's servants. Such natives were treated with all fairness, and
paid wages as high as the other labourers, usually from £17 to £25 per
annum.

The Company became banker for the thousands who thrived by hunting,
trading, tilling or mining, within its domains. It issued notes, and
so valid were they that it has been said "the Hudson's Bay Company's
note was taken everywhere over the northern continent when the 'shin
plasters' of banks in the United States and Canada were refused."[119]

  [Illustration: HUDSON'S BAY CO., TRADE TOKENS.]

FOOTNOTES:

[110] In March, 1821, Wentzel, one of the North-West partners, wrote:
"The Hudson's Bay Company have apparently relaxed in the extravagance
of their measures; last autumn they came in the [Athabasca] Department
with fifteen canoes only, containing each about fifteen pieces. Mr.
Simpson, a gentleman from England last spring, superintends their
business. His being a strange, and reputedly gentlemanly, man, will
not create much alarm, nor do I presume him formidable as an Indian
trader."

[111] May 30th, 1838.

[112] "Such is the spirit and avidity exhibited by the Council," wrote
one of the Company's factors, in 1823, "that it is believed these
discoveries will be extended as far as the Russian settlements on the
Pacific Ocean."

[113] On motion of Mr. Congressman Floyd, a committee was appointed in
December, 1820, "to enquire into the situation of the settlements upon
the Pacific Ocean, and the expediency of occupying the Columbia
River."

[114] See Appendix for copy of this Treaty.

[115] The Russian Company was incorporated under the patronage of the
Crown with a capital of two hundred and sixty thousand pounds
sterling. It had a large commerce with Northern China which did not
deal with Canton; and it was in the northern part of the empire that
the consumption of furs was greatest. Canton was merely the _entrepôt_
where furs were received for distribution throughout China.

[116] From Joseph Berens, Esq., the Governor of the Hudson's Bay
Company and the gentlemen of the Committee, I received all kinds of
assistance and information, communicated in the most friendly manner
previous to my leaving England; and I had the gratification of
perusing the orders to their agents and servants in North America,
containing the fullest directions to promote by every means the
progress of the expedition.--_Sir John Franklin._

[117] "The extraordinary expedition with which this despatch was
transmitted by the Hudson's Bay Company," says Back, "is worthy of
being recorded."

[118] Indeed it cannot be doubted that Great Britain was wholly
influenced by the position of the Company. It has been said that she
did not anticipate any permanent possession of the country. "The
British have certainly no other immediate object," wrote Mr. Gallatin,
the American commissioner, to Henry Clay, "than that of protecting the
Company in its fur-trade."

[119] Sir Edward Walkin tells how, when he was for a short time, in
1865 and 1866, shareholders' auditor of the Company, he cancelled many
of these notes which had become defaced, mainly owing to the fingering
of Indians and others, who had left behind on the thick yellow paper,
coatings of pemmican.




CHAPTER XXXIV.

1846-1863.

     The Oregon Treaty -- Boundary Question Settled -- Company
     Proposes Undertaking Colonization of North America -- Enmity
     and Jealousy Aroused -- Attitude of Earl Grey -- Lord Elgin's
     Opinion of the Company -- Amended Proposal for Colonization
     Submitted -- Opposition of Mr. Gladstone -- Grant of Vancouver
     Island Secured, but Allowed to Expire in 1859 -- Dr. Rae's
     Expedition -- The Franklin Expedition and its Fate -- Discovery
     of the North-West Passage -- Imperial Parliament Appoints
     Select Committee -- Toronto Board of Trade Petitions
     Legislative Council -- Trouble with Indians -- Question of
     Buying Out the Company -- British Government Refuses Help --
     "Pacific Scheme" Promoters Meet Company in Official Interview
     -- International Financial Association Buys Company's Rights --
     Edward Ellice, the "Old Bear."


On the 15th of June, 1846, the famous "Oregon Treaty" was concluded
between Great Britain and America.

[Sidenote: The Oregon Boundary Question.]

By the second article of that instrument it is declared that: "From
the point at which the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude shall be
found to intersect the great northern branch of the Columbia River,
the navigation of the said branch of the river to the point where the
said branch meets the main stream of the said river shall be free and
open to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading
with the same, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with
free access into and through the said river or rivers, it being
understood that all the usual portages along the line thus described
shall, in like manner, be free and open. In navigating the said river
or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be
treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States; it
being, however, always understood that nothing in this article shall
be construed as preventing, or intending to prevent, the Government of
the United States from making any regulations respecting the
navigation of the said river or rivers not inconsistent with the
present treaty."

  [Illustration: HUDSON'S BAY CO.'S EMPLOYEES ON THEIR ANNUAL EXPEDITION.
   (_From "Picturesque Canada," by permission._)]

According to Article III, "In the future appropriation of the
territory south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, as
provided in the first article of this treaty, the possessary rights of
the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be
already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired
within the said territory, shall be respected."

The Oregon boundary question was thus settled. Immigrants were pouring
into Oregon from all parts of America, and California was already
receiving numerous gold miners. It was therefore natural that
Vancouver Island and British Columbia should receive attention. The
climate was known to be almost perfect, and a motion to encourage
colonization in those territories was made in the British Parliament.
But the Company was quite alive to the situation. A letter was
addressed to Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary, dwelling on the
efforts the Adventurers had made in the British interest, and urging
that Vancouver Island be granted to them.

The negotiations continued until March, 1847, when Sir J. H. Pelly,
the Governor of the Company, again wrote to Earl Grey, informing him
that the Company would "undertake the government and colonization of
all the territories belonging to the Crown in North America, and
receive a grant accordingly." Such a proposition staggered Her
Majesty's Ministers, who were for the most part ignorant of the work
the Company had already accomplished, of the position it occupied, or
of the growth of its establishment on the Pacific. Already it governed
and was now busy colonizing the territory, doing both in a manner
superior to that adopted by the Americans in their adjacent
territories. Such a proposition, too, awakened all the jealousy and
enmity against the Company which had been latent for so long.

[Sidenote: Enmity and jealousy aroused.]

One of the most determined and virulent in his attacks on the Company
at this time was one A. K. Isbister, who addressed a long
communication to Earl Grey, besides other letters to public men in
England. In answer to Mr. Isbister, Earl Grey forwarded the substance
of a report which had been made by Major Griffiths, late in command
of Her Majesty's troops at Fort Garry, to whom had been communicated
the petition of certain residents of Red River settlement.

To all the petitions, memorials, and complaints of interested parties
and self-seekers against the Company, Earl Grey had but one answer. He
said he had gone to the bottom of the matter, and he believed the
Company was honest and capable. If he had had any doubt about it, this
doubt must have been removed by a remarkable despatch of Lord Elgin,
Governor-General of Canada, under date of 6th June, 1848. "I am bound
to state," he wrote, "that the result of the enquiries which I have
hitherto made is highly favourable to the Company, and that it has
left on my mind the impression that the authority which it exercises
over the vast and inhospitable region subject to its jurisdiction, is,
on the whole, very advantageous to the Indians.... More especially it
would appear to be a settled principle of their policy to
discountenance the use of ardent spirits. It is indeed possible that
the progress of the Indians toward civilization may not correspond
with the expectations of some of those who are interested in their
welfare. But disappointments of this nature are experienced, I fear,
in other quarters as well as in the territories of the Hudson's Bay
Company; and persons to whom the trading privileges of the Company are
obnoxious may be tempted to ascribe to its rule the existence of evils
which are altogether beyond its power to remedy. There is too much
reason to fear that if the trade were thrown open and the Indians left
to the mercy of the adventurers who might chance to engage in it,
their condition would be greatly deteriorated."[120]

Such was the opinion of the Earl of Elgin on the Hudson's Bay Company,
and it was the opinion of all who really understood the Company's
aims, its history and its position. "Persons to whom the trading
privileges of the Company are obnoxious." It was thus that the Earl
laid his finger upon the cause of the whole onslaught. Jealousy of the
Company's rights was at the bottom of the whole matter.

[Sidenote: Opposition of Mr. Gladstone.]

The Vancouver Island negotiations were suspended for a year, and then
the Company, seeing the opposition it had evoked, put forward a less
extensive proposal, by which it offered to continue the general
management of the whole territory north of the forty-ninth degree, and
for colonizing purposes to except Vancouver Island alone. It agreed to
colonize the island without any pecuniary advantage accruing to
itself, and promised that all moneys received for lands and minerals
should be applied to purposes connected with the improvement of the
country. The proposition seemed a reasonable one; but in a certain
rising statesman, who had inherited his opposition to the Company from
his father, and who had many followers, the Honourable Adventurers had
a powerful enemy. His name was Mr. W. E. Gladstone, and his enmity to
the measure caused the Government to halt.

The Company was not without strong friends, as well as enemies. It
drew up a deed of charter, and boldly relied on the Earl of Lincoln
(afterwards Duke of Newcastle) to procure favour for it in the House
of Commons. On the 17th July the Earl opened the subject, and drew
from Mr. Gladstone a speech which occupies many columns of Hansard's
Debates. With mighty energy he hurled argument, invective, appeal and
remonstrance at the heads of his fellow-members. It was even suggested
that he was actuated by personal malice. Every statement, every
slander that could wither or blacken the fair fame of a corporation
which had deserved well of its country, was employed on this occasion,
and his conclusion was that the Company was incompetent to carry out
its promises. Mr. Howard, who followed, believed that it would be
"most unwise to confer the extensive powers proposed on a fur-trading
Company." Yet he did not deny that as California had recently been
ceded to America, it was a matter of the highest importance that a
flourishing British Colony should be established on the Pacific Coast
as an offset to that power. Lord John Russell undertook to enlighten
the House as to the achievements of the Company, apart from
fur-trading. He said that it already held exclusive privileges, which
did not expire until 1859; that the western lands were controlled by a
Crown grant, dated 13th May, 1838, confirming the possession by the
Company for twenty-one years from that date; that these privileges
"could not be taken away from it without breach of principle and that
if colonization were delayed until the expiration of this term
squatters from America might step in and possess themselves of the
Island."

[Sidenote: The grant of Vancouver Island.]

It was voted to refer the matter to the Privy Council Committee for
Trade and Plantations; and on the 4th September this body reported in
favour of granting Vancouver Island to the Hudson's Bay Company. The
grant was duly signed, sealed and delivered on the 13th January, 1849.

The Company, in the midst of its triumph, was not satisfied. It had
aroused enmities which it was powerless to allay. It had been lured,
by too zealous friends, into making promise of a policy which it
foresaw could not be followed without ruinous cost. It also foresaw
that the rush to the Pacific, consequent upon the gold-fever of 1849,
would bring about new interests not its own and, in brief, that the
colony would pass from its hands, and that all its outlay and labour
would have been expended without profits. What it anticipated came
about sooner than it expected. Opposition had been collecting from
without, and had been engendered from within. Some of the
Adventurers announced that when, in 1859, the grant would expire, they
would object to its renewal. The Company's enemies asserted that it
had not exerted itself to bring about the desired colonization of
Vancouver Island. The settlers forwarded a memorial asking to be
relieved from the Company's control. At the same time, the Governor it
had appointed, Mr. Douglas (afterwards Sir James Douglas), was
popular, and when the grant was allowed to expire and Vancouver Island
became a Crown colony in 1859, he was retained in the same office.
Soon afterwards, a Government was organized, with Mr. Douglas at its
head, on the mainland of British Columbia.

  [Illustration: SIR GEORGE SIMPSON RECEIVING A DEPUTATION OF INDIANS.]

Meanwhile, in the eastern as well as the western extremity of the
Company's domains, agitation and malcontent was being fomented.
Certain residents of Red River settlement had forwarded petitions to
Earl Grey. Lieutenant-Colonel Crofton, in command of Her Majesty's
troops at Fort Garry, was asked to send in a report of the state of
affairs at Red River. At a little later period his successor, Major
Griffiths, was requested to do the same. Neither had any connection
with the Company, and both might therefore be regarded as unbiassed as
well as fully informed. Both exonerated the Company from most of the
charges brought against them, and as to the remainder, which were
preferred on untrustworthy evidence, they professed ignorance. They
rendered full credit to the Company "for the manner in which it has of
late years exercised its powers."

In the year of the Oregon treaty the Company caused some valuable
exploration to be made of its northern coasts. Dr. Rae and his party
reached Chesterfield Inlet 13th July, 1846, passed Repulse Bay safely,
and conveyed their boats thence into Committee Bay, at the bottom of
Boothia Gulf. The Company's expedition wintered at Repulse Bay, and
again entering Committee Bay, in April, 1847, by the following month
had completed a survey, with the exception of Fury and Hecla Straits,
of the entire northern coast of the North American continent.

[Sidenote: Fate of the Franklin Expedition.]

In the previous year, 1845, Sir John Franklin, who had, since his last
travels in Rupert's Land, been Governor of Tasmania, was offered the
command of another expedition in search of the north-west passage by
the British Government. He embarked in the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and
his ships were last seen on the 26th of July in Baffin's Bay by a
whaler.

Several years passed without tidings of the expedition. In 1850 traces
of the missing ships were discovered by Ommaney and Penny, and it was
thus ascertained that the first winter had been spent behind Beechy
Island. No further news came until the spring of 1854, when an
expedition of the Hudson's Bay Company, under Dr. Rae, from Republic
Bay, received information from the Esquimaux that four years before
about forty white men had been seen dragging a boat over the ice near
the north shore of King William's Island. Somewhat later in the same
season of 1850, declared the natives, the bodies of the entire party
were found at a point a short distance to the north-west of the Great
Fish River. To prove their assertion the Esquimaux produced various
articles which were known to have belonged to the ill-fated explorer
and his party. The Government having previously offered a reward of
£10,000 "to any party, or parties who, in the judgment of the Board of
Admiralty, shall, by virtue of his or her efforts, first succeed in
ascertaining" the fate of the missing expedition, Dr. Rae laid claim
to and obtained this reward. Another expedition under Anderson and
Stewart went in two canoes, in 1855, down the Great Fish River, and
further verified the truth by securing more European articles and
clothing from the Esquimaux. It now became clear that a party from the
_Erebus_ and _Terror_ had sought to reach, by the Fish River route,
the nearest Company's post to the south, and had been arrested by the
ice in the channel near that river's mouth. In 1857 Lady Franklin,
whose efforts to set at rest the fate of her husband had been most
heroic, sent out the yacht _Fox_, commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir
Leopold) McClintock, who had already taken part in three expeditions
despatched in search of Franklin. In the following year more relics
were obtained, closely followed by the discovery of many skeletons. In
a cairn at Point Victory Lieutenant Hobson unearthed the celebrated
record kept by two of the explorers, which briefly told the history of
the expedition for three years, or up to April 25, 1848. It appeared
that Sir John Franklin had perished on the 11th of June, 1847. It is
believed that one of the vessels must have been crushed in the ice and
the other stranded on the shore of King William's Island, where it lay
for years, a mine of wonderful implements and playthings for the
Esquimaux.

  [Illustration: OPENING OF CAIRN ON POINT VICTORY WHICH CONTAINED THE
   RECORD OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION.]

  [Illustration: DISCOVERY OF RELICS OF FRANKLIN EXPEDITION.]

Franklin was virtually the discoverer of the long-sought north-west
passage, inasmuch as he had all but traversed the entire distance
between Baffin's Bay and Bering's Strait.

[Sidenote: The North-West Passage discovered at last.]

Yet it should be observed that in 1853 Commander McClure, who was in
charge of an Arctic expedition from the Pacific, was rescued near
Melville Island by Sir Edward Belcher, who came from the side of the
Atlantic, and both he and his ship's company returned to Europe _via_
Baffin's Bay. Thus the secret of the north-west passage was disclosed
at last. It was now known that a continuous passage by water existed
between Baffin's Bay and Bering's Strait, and that was the last of the
voyages undertaken for the purpose through Rupert's Land.

For ten years past the profits of the Company had already increased.
In 1846, there were in its employ five hundred and thirteen articled
men and thirty-five officers. It controlled a net-work of trading
routes between its posts situated between the Atlantic and the Pacific
oceans. In 1856 it had one hundred and fifty-two establishments under
Governor Simpson's control, with sixteen chief factors and twenty-nine
chief traders, assisted by five surgeons, eighty-seven clerks,
sixty-seven postmasters, five hundred voyageurs and one thousand two
hundred permanent servants, in addition to sailors on sea-going ships
and other employees, numbering altogether above three thousand men.

[Sidenote: Imperial Parliament appoints Select Committee.]

At the beginning of 1857 the opponents of the Company were on the _qui
vive_. They had at last succeeded in procuring a Select Committee of
the Imperial House of Commons for the purpose of considering "the
state of those British possessions in North America which are under
the administration of the Hudson's Bay Company, or over which it
possesses a license to trade." The committee was composed of the
following persons: The Right Honourable Henry Labouchere (afterwards
Lord Taunton), Sir John Pakingham, Lord John Russell, Mr. Gladstone,
the Right Honourable Edward Ellice, Lord Stanley, Viscount Sandon, and
Messrs. Lowe, Adderley, Roebuck, Grogan, Kinnaird, Blackburn, Charles
Fitzwilliam, Gordon, Gurney, Bell and Percy Herbert. Evidence was
taken from the 20th of February to the 9th of March, which comprised
the first session of the committee. It sat again in May, and the
examination of the numerous witnesses ended on the 23rd of June.
Public interest was aroused, and the Company and its doings again
became a standing topic at London dinner-tables. The Honourable
Adventurers were again on their trial--would they come out of the
ordeal as triumphantly as on the occasion of the previous great
investigation a full century and a decade before? The list of
witnesses comprised some of the best known names of the day. There
were: Sir John Richardson, Rear Admiral Sir George Back, Dr. Rae,
Chief Justice Draper of Canada, Sir George Simpson, Hon. John Ross,
Lieut.-Colonel Lefroy, Lieut.-Colonel Caldwell, Bishop Anderson, Hon.
Charles Fitzwilliam, Dr. King and Right Hon. Edward Ellice. At the
second session Messrs. Gordon, Bell and Adderley retired, and Viscount
Goderich, and Messrs. Matheson and Christy took their places. The
first witness examined was the Honourable John Ross, then President of
the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. "It is complained," said he, "that
the Hudson's Bay Company occupy that territory and prevent the
extension of settlement and civilization in that part of the
continent. I do not think they ought to be permitted to do that; but I
think it would be a very great calamity if their control and power
were entirely to cease. My reason for forming that opinion is this:
during all the time that I have been able to observe their
proceedings, there has been peace within the whole territory. The
operations of the Company seem to have been carried on, at all events,
in such a way as to prevent the Indian tribes within their borders
from molesting the Canadian frontier; while, on the other hand, those
who have turned their attention to that quarter of the world must have
seen that, from Oregon to Florida, for these last thirty years or
more, there has been a constant Indian war going on between the
natives of American territory, on the one side, and the Indian tribes
on the other. Now, I very much fear that if the occupation of the
Hudson's Bay Company were to cease, our fate in Canada might be just
what it is with Americans in the border settlements of their
territory."

Lord Elgin had showed the weak spot of the opposition. Mr. Ross
indicated it more precisely. "I believe," said he, "there are certain
gentlemen at Toronto very anxious to get up a second North-West
company, and I daresay it would result in something like the same
difficulties which the last North-West company created. I should be
sorry to see them succeed. I think it would do a great deal of harm,
creating further difficulties in Canada, which I do not desire to see
created."

At the close of the evidence, Mr. Gladstone proposed resolutions
unfavourable to the Company, which were negatived by the casting vote
of the chairman, Lord Taunton, the numbers being seven to seven. The
committee agreed to their report on the 31st July. It recommended that
the Red River and Saskatchewan districts might be "ceded to Canada on
equitable principles," the details being left to Her Majesty's
Government. The termination of the Company's rule over Vancouver
Island was advised; and this advice was not distasteful to the
Company. The committee strongly urged, in the interests of law and
order, and of the Indian population as well as for the preservation of
the fur-trade, that the Company "should continue to enjoy the
privileges of exclusive trade which they now possess."

[Sidenote: Toronto merchants petition Legislative Council.]

As an illustration of the spirit prevalent in many quarters in Canada
towards the Company, the petition which on the 28th of April, 1857,
reached the Legislative Council of Canada, may be cited. It emanated
from the Board of Trade of the City of Toronto. After reciting in
anything but a respectful manner the history and status of the
Company, it declared that the Company acted under a "pretended" right,
that it "assumed the power to enact tariffs, collect custom dues, and
levy taxes against British subjects, and has enforced unjust and
arbitrary laws in defiance of every principle of right and justice."
The petitioners besought the attention of the Government "to that
region of country designated as the chartered territory, over which
the said Company exercises a sovereignty over the soil as well as a
monopoly in the trade, and which said Company claims as a right that
insures to it _in perpetuo_, in contradistinction to that portion of
the country over which it claims an exclusive right of trade, but for
a limited period only." The "gentlemen from Toronto" admitted that
this latter claim was founded upon a legal right, but submitted that a
renewal of "such license of exclusive trade was injurious to the
interests of the country so monopolized, and in contravention of the
rights of the inhabitants of Canada."

In this year the claims of the Company in connection with the Treaty
of 1846 were finally arranged by a special treaty concluded through
the Hon. W. H. Seward for America, and Lord Lyons, the British
Ambassador. The Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, which was an
offshoot and subordinate concern of the Hudson's Bay Company, for the
purposes of wheat, wool, hides and tallow production, was also named
as one of the interested parties.

"Whereas," so ran the new treaty, "it is desirable that all questions
between the United States authorities on the one hand, and the
Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies on the other,
with respect to the possessary rights and claims of these companies,
and of any other British subjects in Oregon and Washington Territory,
should be settled by the transfer of those rights and claims to the
Government of the United States for an adequate money consideration:
It is hereby agreed that the United States of America and Her
Britannic Majesty shall, within twelve months after the exchange of
the ratification of the present treaty, appoint each a commissioner
for the purpose of examining and deciding upon all claims arising out
of the provisions of the above-quoted articles of the Treaty of June
15, 1846."[121]

[Sidenote: Unwholesome temper amongst the Indians.]

The commercial rivalry existing between the Russian-American Company
and the Hudson's Bay Company, which held a trading lease of part of
the sea-bound territory, naturally tended to engender and keep alive
an unwholesome temper amongst the Indians. They were frequently
troublesome, and occasionally murderous. In May, 1862, between two
hundred and fifty and three hundred of the natives on the west side of
Chatham Strait, twenty-five miles north of Cross Sound, seized on the
quarter-deck the captain and chief trader of the Company's steamer
_Labouchere_, of seven hundred tons and taking possession of the
vessel, drove the crew forward. But the crew had a large gun trained
aft, and parleying took place. The Indians had not known that this was
a Company ship. It was agreed that both parties should discharge their
rifles, and peace was proclaimed, the Indians finally leaving the
vessel. Before their departure, however, they covered the deck with
fine sea-otter and other skins as a present to the captain and
traders, and as a token of peace.

In September, 1860, after an illness of but five days' duration, died
Sir George Simpson, the Governor-in-Chief in Rupert's Land, amidst
universal regrets. He had been often, indeed persistently, attacked by
the Company's enemies during his tenure of his office; indeed almost
up to the day of his death he was charged with being autocratic and
tyrannical, but none could deny him great ability and exceptional
fitness for his post.

He had taken a powerful interest in northern discoveries, and
superintended the fitting out of several Arctic expeditions. For his
services in this direction he had been knighted in 1841, and soon
afterwards had set out on a journey round the world, of which he
published an interesting relation. In his late years he resided at
Lachine, where he entertained the Prince of Wales, on his visit in
1860.

His successor was Mr. A. E. Dallas, who having made a considerable
fortune in China, had for some time served the Company on the Pacific
coast. Thanks to his prudence, the landing in 1859 of General Harney
and a detachment of American troops on the island St. Juan, between
Vancouver's Island and the mainland, had been controlled and
check-mated by the proposal of joint occupation until negotiations
should settle the question of right. He was returning home to England,
intending to retire, when he was persuaded to accept the Governorship
of Rupert's Land.

[Sidenote: Proposals to buy out the Company.]

At the head of a scheme for a transcontinental road and telegraph
system was Mr. (afterwards Sir) Edward Watkin, well known as the
promoter of the Grand Trunk Railway. For this scheme an Imperial
subsidy was sought. The dissensions which ensued between the various
parties interested proved not unfruitful, for they led up to the
great question of buying out the Company.

At the beginning, however, the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial
Secretary, had amiably undertaken to sound the Company as to their
willingness to allow a road and telegraphs through their
territory.[122]

In response to this demand the aged Governor answered, almost in
terror, to the Duke of Newcastle, "What, sequester our very tap-root!
Take away the fertile lands where the buffaloes feed! Let in all kinds
of people to squat and settle, and frighten away the fur-bearing
animals they don't hunt and kill! Impossible! Destruction--extinction
of our time-honoured industry. If these gentlemen are so patriotic,
why don't they buy us out?" To this outburst the Duke quietly replied:
"What is your price?" Governor Berens answered: "Well, about a million
and a half."

[Sidenote: Discussions as to the price.]

On hearing this, Mr. Watkin was anxious that the British Government
should figure among the purchasing parties. Purchase seemed the only
way out of the difficulty. The Governor and Company seemed to have
made up their minds for a sale or else to withstand the project which
Mr. Watkin and the rest had so dearly at heart. An endeavour was made
to convince the Duke that at the price named there could be no risk of
loss, because the fur-trade could be separated from the land and
rights, and after the purchase a new joint-stock company could be
organized to take over the trading-posts, the fleet of ships, the
stock of goods, and the other assets, rights and privileges affecting
trade. Such a company, it was figured, would pay a rental (redeemable
over a term of years if necessary) of three or three and one-half per
cent, on £800,000, leaving only £700,000 as the value of a territory
bigger than Russia in Europe. Such a company would have to raise
additional capital of its own to modernise its business, to improve
the means of intercourse between its posts, and to cheapen and
expedite the transport to and fro of its merchandise. It was pointed
out that a land company could be organized in England, Canada and
America which, on a similar principle of redemption rental, might take
over the lands, leaving a reserve of probably a fourth of the whole as
the unpaid-for property of the Government, at the price of £700,000.
"Were these proposals to succeed, then," said Mr. Watkin, "all the
country would have to do was to lend £1,000,000 on such security as
could be offered, ample in each case," in his opinion. But a condition
was to be imposed if these plans were to be adopted. The Hudson's Bay
territory must be erected into a Crown colony like British Columbia,
and governed on the responsibility of the Empire. As to the cost of
government, there were three suggestions put forward. One was that it
might be recouped by a moderate system of duties in and out of the
territory, to be agreed upon between Canada and British Columbia on
the one hand, and the United States on the other. The second was to
sell a portion of the territory to America for five million dollars,
which sum Mr. Watkin knew could be obtained. The third scheme was to
open up portions of the fertile belt to colonization from the United
States. When considering the second plan, the Duke said he would not
sell; he would exchange; and studying the map, "we put our fingers
upon the Aroostook Wedge, in the State of Maine; upon a piece of
territory at the head of Lake Superior, and upon islands between
British Columbia and Vancouver's Island, which might be the equivalent
of rectification of boundary on many portions of the westward along
the 49th parallel of latitude."

As for a name for the new proposed Crown colony, Dr. Mackay had
suggested to Mr. Watkin, "Hysperia," and this name was mentioned to
the Duke. Its similarity to "hysteria" probably caused it to be
dismissed.

[Sidenote: Opposition of the Colonial Office.]

The decision of the Duke of Newcastle on the whole proposition was
that were he a Minister of Russia he would agree to purchase the land
from the Hudson's Bay Company. "It is," said he, "the right thing to
do for many, for all reasons; but ministers here must subordinate
their views to the Cabinet." Nevertheless, he went so far as to
believe that it was right. But the Colonial Office were in positive
opposition to the scheme.

It was now clear that the promoters of the Pacific transcontinental
railway could hope for no direct pecuniary aid from the British
Government. They must act for themselves.

After some correspondence, it was arranged that the promoters of the
"Pacific scheme," as it was called, should meet the Governor and
Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company in an official interview. The
date was the 1st of December, 1862.

"The room," writes Sir Edward Watkin in his Memoirs, "was the Court
room, dark and dirty. A faded green cloth, old chairs, almost black,
and a fine portrait of Prince Rupert. We met the Governor, Berens,
Eden Colville and Lyell only. On our part there were Mr. G. G. Glyn
(the late Lord Wolverton), Captain Glyn (the late Admiral Henry Glyn),
and Messrs. Newmarch, Benson, Blake and myself. Mr. Berens, an old man
and obstinate, bearing a name to be found in the earliest lists of
Hudson's Bay shareholders, was somewhat insulting in his manner. We
took it patiently. He seemed to be astounded at our assurance. 'What!
interfere with his fertile belt, tap-root,' etc."

[Sidenote: The "Pacific Scheme" discussed.]

But the Governor showed himself more reasonable; a calmer discussion
ensued, and the promoters were informed that the Company would be
ready to make a grant of land for the actual site of a road and
telegraph through their territory. Nothing more would be vouchsafed,
unless, as they had informed the Duke of Newcastle, they were paid for
all their rights and property.

  [Illustration: FORT PRINCE OF WALES.
   (_Drawn from an old print._)]

"The offer," observes Sir Edward, "of a mere site of a road and ground
for telegraph poles was no use. So, just as we were leaving, I said,
'We are quite ready to consider your offer to sell; and to expedite
matters, will you allow us to see your accounts, charters, etc.' They
promised to consult their Court."

The result of this promise was that the promoters were put into
communication with "old Mr. Roberts, aged eighty-five, their
accountant, and with their solicitor, Mr. Maynard." Many interviews
took place at Hudson's Bay House between these parties. On the 17th of
March, 1863, Mr. Watkin met the Governor, Mr. Ellice, junior (son of
Edward Ellice, who had been nick-named the "Old Bear"), Mr. Matheson
and Mr. Maynard, at Hudson's Bay House. A number of account books were
produced.

"Next day I had a long private interview with Mr. Maynard, but could
not see the balance-sheet The same day, I saw the Duke with Messrs.
Glyn and Benson." On the following day, the chief promoter spent the
forenoon with Mr. Roberts, the accountant, and his son and assistant,
at Hudson's Bay House.

"Mr. Roberts told him many odd things," he says; "one was, that the
Company had had a freehold farm on the site of the present City of San
Francisco of one thousand acres, and had sold it just before the gold
discoveries for £1,000, because two factors quarrelled over it. I
learnt a great deal of the inside of the affair, and got some glimpses
of the competing North-West Company, amalgamated by Mr. Edward Ellice,
its chief mover, many years agone, with the Hudson's Bay Company.
Pointing to some boxes in his private room one day, Mr. Maynard said,
'There are years of Chancery in those boxes, if anyone else had them.'
And he more than once quoted a phrase of the Old Bear, 'My fortune
came late in life.'"

[Sidenote: The International Financial Association.]

In spite of the Duke's indisposition, he expressed the greatest
interest in the progress of the negotiations. Yet the prospect of
Government aid was now remote. Two ways were open to raise the money
for a purchase of the Company's rights--to secure the names and
support of fifteen persons, millionaires, for £100,000 each; the other
to hand the proposed purchase over to the newly-organized
International Finance Association, who were eager to find some
important enterprise to put before the public. The first method seemed
to recommend itself to the promoters; and the friends of the project
could easily have underwritten the necessary amount. But the Company
now announced that it would give no credit. "We must take up the
shares as presented and pay for them over the counter." There was,
therefore, no alternative. Mr. Richard Potter, acting for the
capitalists, completed the negotiations. The shares were taken over
and paid for by the International Financial Association, who issued
new stock to the public to an amount which covered a large provision
of new capital for the extension of business by the Company, and at
great profit to themselves. As regards the new Hudson's Bay
shareholders, their two hundred and one shares were subsequently
reduced by returns of capital to one hundred and thirty-one, and
having attained a value of thirty-seven, during the "land boom" period
twenty years later stood at two hundred and forty-one.

A Hudson's Bay Company prospectus was issued. It was understood that
the International Financial Association were merely agents, that the
shares would not remain in their hands, but would pass to the
proprietors, who would, of course, only enjoy the rights such shares
carried. They would, in fact, be a continuation of the Company, only
their efforts would be directed to the promotion of the settlement of
the country; the development of the postal and transit communications
being one of the objects to which they were pledged. A new council had
been formed, and amongst its members was Mr. Eden Colville, one of the
old committee, whom the Duke praised publicly in the highest terms, as
a "man of business and good sense."

There was one man in London who was astonished at what had taken
place. Edward Ellice still lived, but his commanding figure was bent
by the weight of years. As we have seen, it was he who, in 1821,
played the principal part in the amalgamation of the rival companies.
He had grown to be proud of the Company, proud of its history, of its
traditions, of its service; and he seemed to detect in this transfer,
its fall. A few months before his death, in 1863, he met one of the
negotiators at Burlington House. He confronted him for some moments
without speaking, in a state of abstraction. Then he passed on, like a
man "endeavouring to recollect a long history of difficulty, and to
realize how strangely it had all ended."

Ellice had said, before the Parliamentary Committee of 1857, in reply
to a question put by a member as to what probability there was of a
settlement being made, "within what you consider to be the southern
territories of the Hudson's Bay Company?" "None; in the lifetime of
the youngest man now alive!"

FOOTNOTES:

[120] Lord Elgin went on to say: "At the same time I think it is to be
regretted that a jurisdiction so extensive and peculiar, exercised by
British subjects at such a distance and so far beyond the control of
public opinion, should be so entirely removed from the surveillance of
Her Majesty's Government. The evil arising from this state of things
is forcibly illustrated in the present instance by the difficulty
which I experience in obtaining materials for a full and satisfactory
report on the charges which your Lordship referred to me. It were very
desirable, if abuses do exist, that Government possessed the means of
probing them to the bottom; and on the other hand it seems to be hard
on the Company, if the imputations cast upon it be unfounded, that
Government, which undertakes the investigation, should not have the
power of acquitting it on testimony more unexceptionable than any
which is at present procurable. It has been stated to me that your
Lordship has it in contemplation to establish a military officer at
some point within the territories of the Company, and that the Company
is disposed to afford every facility for carrying out this
arrangement. I trust that this report may prove to be well founded."

[121] The treaty having provided for a joint commission, Mr. A. S.
Johnston and the Hon. (afterwards Sir) John Rose were appointed to act
for America and Great Britain, respectively. These commissioners, on
the 10th of September, 1869, issued an award from Washington,
directing the payment of $450,000 by the United States to the Hudson's
Bay Company, and $200,000 to the Puget's Sound Company. There was, as
usual, considerable delay in making this payment. On the 11th of July,
1870, $325,000 was appropriated by Congress for this purpose, and a
like sum by another appropriation in the following year.

[122] "I am glad to tell you that since I received your letter of
Saturday last, the Hudson's Bay Company has replied to my
communication; and has promised to _grant_ land to a Company formed
under such auspices as those with whom I placed them in communication.
The question now is, what _breadth_ of land they will give, for of
course they propose to include the whole length of the line through
their territory. A copy of the reply shall be sent to Mr. Baring, and
I hope you and he will be able to bring this concession to some
practical issue.

"I was quite aware of the willingness of the Company to _sell_ their
_whole_ rights for some such sum as £1,500,000. I ascertained the fact
two months ago and alluded to it in the House of Lords in my reply to
a motion by Lord Donoughmore. I cannot, however, view the proposal in
so favourable a light as you do. There would be no immediate or
_direct_ return to show for this large outlay, for of course the trade
monopoly must cease, and the sale of the land would for some time
bring in little or nothing--certainly not enough to pay for the
government of the country.

"I do not think Canada _can_, or if she can, ought to take any large
share in such a payment. Some of her politicians would no doubt
support the proposal with views of their own--but it would be a
serious, and for some time unrenumerative addition to their very
embarassing debt. I certainly should not like to _sell_ any portion of
the territory to the United States--_exchange_ (if the territory were
once acquired) would be a different thing--but that would not help
towards the liquidation of the purchase money."--_Letter of the Duke
of Newcastle, 14th August, 1862._




CHAPTER XXXV.

1863-1871.

     Indignation of the Wintering Partners -- Distrust and
     Misgivings Arise -- Proposals of Governor Dallas for the
     Compensation of the Wintering Partners in Exchange for their
     Abrogation of Deed Poll -- Threatened Deadlock -- Position of
     those in Authority Rendered Untenable -- Failure of Duke of
     Newcastle's Proposals for Surrender of Territorial Rights --
     The Russo-American Alaskan Treaty -- The Hon. W. McDougall's
     Resolutions -- Deputation Goes to England -- Sir Stafford
     Northcote becomes Governor -- Opinion of Lord Granville as to
     the Position of Affairs -- Lack of Military System Company's
     Weakness -- Cession now Inevitable -- Terms Suggested by Lord
     Granville Accepted -- First Riel Rebellion -- Wolseley at Fort
     Garry.


All this had taken place in London. The sale had been negotiated
between financiers. Not a word of what was impending had crossed the
Atlantic to the hunting-grounds of the North-West--to the body of men
who were, as much as the Governor, the Committee and the sleeping
partners, members of the Great Company. Yet their voice had never been
heard, nor their consent to the transaction obtained. By the Deed Poll
it was provided that the profits of the fur-trade (less interest on
capital employed) were to be divided into one hundred parts, sixty
parts going to the stockholders and forty to the "wintering partners."
What would the "wintering partners" say to this brilliant "game of
chess" which had been played with the stockholders for interests which
were jointly theirs?

[Sidenote: Indignation of the Wintering Partners.]

No sooner had the papers been signed, and the million and a half
sterling paid over, than misgivings seem to have seized the minds of
those directly interested. Yet, on their behalf, it was urged that the
Company's posts and hunting grounds still remained. That the factors
and traders would be as well off under the new _régime_ as the
old--that the mere change of one body of shareholders for another
could affect them nothing--that, in fact, they would really benefit by
having men of newer ideas and a more progressive spirit.

The news, once in the newspapers, travelled fast, and in a few weeks
at the less distant posts, and in a few months at the more remote
ones, the rumour ran that the Company had sold out--that the London
partners had betrayed the real workers in the wilderness.

  [Illustration: FORT GARRY.]

A large number of the Company's chief factors and traders had, it
appeared, addressed a memorial to the Company in London, when first
the rumour of a sale had reached them. They declared that they had
been informed that no transfer was probable, but if it took place it
would not be without previous consultation. They now learned for the
first time from the newspapers that these arrangements had been made.
An influential member of the new Company predicted that a general
resignation of the officers from Labrador to Sitka would ensue,
followed by a confederation amongst themselves, in order to carry on
the fur-trade in competition with the Company. They had, they said,
"the skill, the will, and the capital to do it."

It was said that the appearance of Mr. Lampson's name as Deputy
Governor of the new Company had heightened the first feeling of
distrust, for this gentleman and his commercial connections had long
been the Company's great rivals in the fur marts, carrying on a
vigorous competition at all accessible points.[123]

[Sidenote: Governor Dallas's Suggestions.]

Governor Dallas, almost immediately upon his arrival in Montreal,
caused a circular to be issued, addressed to all the factors,
completely refuting all these charges and innuendoes. Many conferences
took place between Dallas and Watkin as to the working of the Company
in the fur territories on the new basis. Dallas kept the Governor and
Committee in London fully advised of the state of affairs, accompanied
by proposals as to the compensation to be allowed the aggrieved
wintering partners. An interesting object, which it was desired to
accomplish at this time, was an exchange of boundary between the
Company and the United States, so as to permit Superior City being
brought into British territory by means of a fair payment and exchange
of land. The negotiations looking to this end, although at one time
promising, proved a failure.

It was believed that the first measure necessary towards the
re-organization of the Hudson's Bay service would be the abolition or
modification of the Deed Poll, under which the trade was then
conducted. The wintering partners (chief factors and chief traders)
had certain vested rights, and these could not be interfered with
without compensation.[124]

One mode suggested by Governor Dallas of removing the difficulty was
to ascertain the value of a retired interest, and bestow a money
compensation to each officer on his entering into an agreement to
consent to the abrogation of the Deed Poll. As regarded the shares
held in retirement, some of the interests had nearly run out and none
of the parties had any voice in the business. The value of a
(one-eighty-fifth) share was ascertained to be (on the average of the
previous thirteen "outfits") about £408, at which rate a chief
factor's retired interest would amount to £3,264, and a chief trader's
to £1,632. Adding the customary year's furlough on retiring, a
factor's retired allowance would be £4,080, and a trader's £2,040. On
such a scale of commutation it would cost the Company £114,500 to buy
out its officers.

As a set-off to this outlay Governor Dallas suggested a substantial
reduction in salaries. Under the then existing organization the pay of
officers in the service was £2,000 to the Governor-in-Chief, £16,000
amongst sixteen chief factors, £14,000 to thirty-five chief traders,
and £10,000 to the clerks, a total officers' pay-roll of £38,000. He
proposed to cut this down as follows:

     Governor-in-Chief                       £2,000
     Lieutenant-Governor                      1,250
     Four Councillors at £800                 3,200
     Twenty-five chief traders at £300        7,500
     One hundred clerks at various salaries  10,000
                                             ------
                                            £23,950

But Sir Edmund and his colleagues thought otherwise. The wintering
partners were not yet to reap any profit from the sale of the
Company's assets. The Deed Poll remained in full force until 1871,
when they were paid £107,055 out of the money received from Canada for
Rupert's Land and the North-West.

[Sidenote: Threatened Deadlock in Red River Settlement.]

In 1863 the Company's government had almost come to a deadlock in the
Red River settlement. Two cases had just occurred of prisoners having
been forcibly rescued from gaol; and they, with about thirty to fifty
others implicated in the riots, continued at large, fostering
discontent. The only paper published, the notorious _Nor'-Wester_, was
in the hands of the Company's bitterest enemies.[125] The position of
those in authority was so disagreeable that it was with great
difficulty that Governor Dallas persuaded the magistrates to continue
their duties. Governor McTavish, who was in charge of Assiniboine,
resigned, and others were prepared to follow his example, including
the Governor-in-Chief himself. Fortunately the open malcontents were
few in number and the volunteer force was sufficient to protect the
gaol and support law and order, were it not for the unwise zeal of the
Company's partisans who were ready to engage in a free fight with the
agitators. This, beyond question, would have led to a repetition of
the Semple tragedy of 1816. It may be noted that the Company's
unpopularity in the Red River country, according to Governor Dallas,
"arose entirely from the system, not from the faults of its
administrators."

The agitation against the Company still continued, but slowly. It
seemed difficult for the parties interested in the abolition of the
Company's rights to agree upon a single scheme which would be
permanently satisfactory, and not too costly. Sir Edmund Head
expressed himself in favour of a complete sale of rights and ownership
to the Imperial authorities. But this scheme was, as has been seen,
beset with almost insuperable difficulties. In November, 1863, Sir
Edmund suggested that an equal division be made of the territory fit
for settlement between the Company and the Crown, with inclusion of
specified tracts in the share of the former; secondly, that the
Company construct the road and telegraph; thirdly, that the Crown
purchase such of the Company's premises as should be required for
military use, and to pay the Company a net third of all future revenue
from gold and silver.

In his Speech from the Throne, on the 19th February, 1864, Lord Monk,
the Governor-General of Canada, alluded to the matter, which was
beginning to engross the public mind.

"The condition," said he, "of the vast region lying on the north-west
of the settled portions of the Province is daily becoming a question
of great interest. I have considered it advisable to open a
correspondence with the Imperial Government, with a view to arrive at
a precise definition of the geographical boundaries of Canada in that
direction. Such a definition of boundary is a desirable preliminary to
further proceedings with respect to the vast tracts of land in that
quarter belonging to Canada, but not yet brought under the action of
our political and municipal system."

It was hoped by many that the Company could be induced to sell out its
rights to the Imperial Government, and out of the territory to carve
out a new Crown Colony.

In the course of the ensuing debate on the address, the Honourable
William McDougall, Minister of Crown Lands, who was officially
concerned in the matter, stated that "the Government of Canada had
reached a conclusion upon the advisability of determining whether the
Red River territory belonged to Canada or to some other country." The
consequence was that a correspondence had been opened with the
Imperial Government upon the subject. Mr. McDougall thereupon
announced his individual view of the case as being that "Canada was
entitled to claim as a portion of its soil all that part of the
North-West territory that could be proved to have been in possession
of the French at the time of the cession of Canada to the British."

It was not at all likely that the Duke of Newcastle would share such a
view, or that he would entirely acquiesce with the suggestion of Sir
Edmund Head on behalf of the Company. Under date of the 11th of March,
and 5th of April, 1864, he formulated the appended proposals:--

     1. The Company to surrender to the Crown its territorial
     rights.

     2. To receive one shilling for every acre sold by the Crown but
     limited to £150,000 in all, and to fifty years in duration,
     whether or not the receipts attained that amount.

     3. To receive one-fourth of any gold revenue, but limited to
     £100,000 in all, and to fifty years in duration.

     4. To have one square mile of adjacent land for every lineal
     mile constructed of road and telegraph to British Columbia.

[Sidenote: The surrender of Territorial Rights.]

These proposals were carefully considered by Sir Edmund Head and his
colleagues, and it was decided at a meeting on the 13th of April to
accept them, subject to certain alterations. It was urged that the
amount of payments within fifty years should either not be limited or
else placed at the sum of £1,000,000 sterling, instead of a quarter of
that sum. The Company also suggested that a grant be made to it of
five thousand acres of wild land for every fifty thousand acres sold
by the Crown.

In the meantime the Duke of Newcastle had been succeeded in the
Colonial Secretaryship by Mr. Cardwell, who on the 6th of June wrote
to say that he could not entertain the amendments of the Company. For
several months nothing was done, but in December the Honourable
Adventurers again met and again showed their desire for an amicable
and reasonable arrangement. They offered to accept £1,000,000 for the
territory which they then defined, and which was substantially in
extent the whole region granted them in the Charter of Charles II. In
1865 the Hon. George Brown went to England to come to terms over the
proposed transfer, but without success.

[Sidenote: America purchases Alaska.]

The charter of the Russian Company was about to expire. It had
underlet to the Hudson's Bay Company all its franchise on the mainland
between 54° 40' and Mount St Elias; and now it was proposed that an
American Company, holding direct from the Russian Government, should
be substituted, and it seemed to the Americans a good opportunity to
organize a fur-trading company to trade between the States and the
Russian possessions in America. But before the matter could mature,
the American and Russian Governments interposed with a treaty, by
which Alaska was ceded to the States for $7,200,000 in gold. Few
treaties have ever been carried out in so simple a manner. Russia was
glad to be rid of her possessions in North America. The sum of
$7,000,000 was originally agreed upon; but when it was understood that
a fur company and an ice company enjoyed monopolies under the existing
government, it was decided to extinguish these for the additional sum.

On 1st July, 1867, the Confederation of the scattered British
Provinces of North America was made an accomplished fact, amidst
general rejoicings. On the 4th of December, Mr. McDougall, who was now
Minister of Public Works for the new Dominion of Canada, brought in,
at the first session of Parliament, a series of resolutions directly
relating to the acquisition of Rupert's Land and the Great
North-West:--

     1. That it would promote the prosperity of the Canadian people
     and conduce to the advantage of the whole Empire if the
     Dominion of Canada, constituted under the provisions of the
     British North America Act, 1867, were extended westward to the
     shores of the Pacific Ocean.

     2. That the colonization of the lands of the Saskatchewan,
     Assiniboine, and Red River Settlements, the development of the
     mineral wealth which abounds in the regions of the North-West,
     and the extension of commercial intercourse through the British
     possessions in America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are
     alike dependent upon the establishment of a stable government
     for maintenance of law and order in the North-West Territories.

     3. That the welfare of the sparse and widely-scattered
     population of British subjects of European origin, already
     inhabiting these remote and unorganized territories, would be
     materially enhanced by the formation therein of political
     institutions bearing analogy, as far as circumstances will
     admit, to those which exist in the several Provinces of this
     Dominion.

     4. That the 146th section of the British North America Act,
     1867, provides for the admission of Rupert's Land and the
     North-West Territory, or either of them, into union with Canada
     upon terms and conditions to be expressed in Addresses from the
     Houses of Parliament of the Dominion to Her Majesty, and which
     shall be approved of by the Queen in Council.

     5. That it is accordingly expedient to address Her Majesty,
     that she would be graciously pleased, by and with the advice of
     Her Most Honourable Privy Council, to unite Rupert's Land and
     the North-West Territory with the Dominion of Canada, and to
     grant to the Parliament of Canada authority to legislate for
     their future welfare and good government.

     6. That in the event of the Imperial Government agreeing to
     transfer to Canada the jurisdiction and control over this
     region, it would be expedient to provide that the legal rights
     of any corporation, company, or individual within the same will
     be respected; and that in case of difference of opinion as to
     the extent, nature, or value of these rights, the same shall be
     submitted to judicial decision, to be determined by mutual
     agreement between the Government of Canada and the parties
     interested. Such agreement to have no effect or validity until
     first sanctioned by the Parliament of Canada.

     7. That upon the transference of the territories in question to
     the Canadian Government, the claims of the Indian tribes to
     compensation for lands required for purposes of settlement
     would be considered, and settled in conformity with the
     equitable principles which have uniformly governed the Crown in
     its dealings with the aborigines.

[Sidenote: Deputation goes to England.]

In the following year a delegation to arrange the terms for the
acquisition by Canada of Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory
arrived in England. It consisted of Sir George Étienne Cartier and Mr.
William McDougall. On presenting themselves at the Colonial Office
they were invited by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, then
Secretary of State for the Colonies, to visit him at Stowe "for the
purpose of discussing freely and fully the numerous and difficult
questions involved in the transfer of these great territories to
Canada." To the Duke's country-seat the delegates accordingly went.
Here, one of the first things the Duke communicated to them was that
the Company being lords-proprietors were to be treated as such, and
not as parties having a defective title and fit subjects for that
"spoliation" previously deplored by Cartier.[126] There can be no
manner of doubt that, taking this view, the Company's demands were
most reasonable. But the Canadian delegates were not content to take
this view. There had been so much irresponsible hue-and-cry about the
weakness of the Company's title, that they doubtless felt themselves
privileged to hold out for better terms. While negotiations were thus
pending in London, the Duke of Buckingham quitted office with his
colleagues, and was succeeded by Earl Granville. Almost at the same
time the Earl of Kimberley, the Company's Governor, resigned, and was
replaced by Sir Stafford Northcote. In January, 1869, the new Colonial
Secretary transmitted to the delegates the reply of the Company,
declining their counter-proposals, and inviting them to communicate to
him any observations they might desire to offer further on the
situation.

"We felt reluctant," to quote the language of the delegates, "as
representatives of Canada, to engage in a controversy with the Company
concerning matters of fact, as well as questions of law and policy,
while the negotiation with it was being carried on by the Imperial
Government in its own name and of its own authority."

[Sidenote: Canada exerts pressure on the Company.]

Nevertheless, these scruples were soon overcome. They accepted Lord
Granville's invitation, and on the 8th February stated at length their
views upon the various points raised by the Governor of the Company,
which views clearly demonstrated that the Dominion was by no means
prepared to deal with the Honourable Adventurers in a spirit of
generosity or even of equity. Lord Granville now came forward with
plans of his own, but these were not agreeable to Sir George Cartier
and Mr. McDougall. While the negotiations were in progress the Company
lodged an indignant complaint against the Canadian Government for
undertaking the construction of a road between the Lake of the Woods
and the Red River settlement without first having procured its
consent. Stormy meetings of the Honourable Adventurers were held; it
seemed impossible to resist the pressure which was being brought to
bear. Had the old governor and committee been in existence it is
possible this pressure would have been longer withstood. The delegates
returned to Canada, but they had succeeded in no slight measure in
impressing upon the Imperial Government their peculiar views. On the
9th of March, Lord Granville employed the following language to the
Governor of the Company:

"At present the very foundations of the Company's title are not
undisputed. The boundaries of its territory are open to questions of
which it is impossible to ignore the importance. Its legal rights,
whatever these may be, are liable to be invaded without law by a mass
of Canadian and American settlers, whose occupation of the country on
any terms it will be little able to resist; while it can hardly be
alleged that the terms of the charter, or its internal constitution,
are such as to qualify it under all these disadvantages for
maintaining order and performing the internal and external duties of
government."

[Sidenote: Lack of Military system Company's weakness.]

There was the Company's weakness. No sovereign in Europe had a clearer
right to his or her dominions, perhaps no rule was wiser or more
beneficent, but the one powerful, indispensable adjunct to sovereign
authority it lacked--a military system.[127] With a standing army the
Company's rights would have been secure--but it was a king without
soldiers. It required ten thousand drilled men to defend its
frontiers--it was too late in the day to organize such a force, it
could only submit gracefully to its envious and powerful neighbours.
Cession was perhaps inevitable; the terms which Lord Granville now
proposed it decided to accept.

     1. The Hudson's Bay Company to surrender to Her Majesty all the
     rights of government, property, etc., in Rupert's Land, which
     are specified in 31 and 32 Victoria, clause 105, section 4; and
     also all similar rights in any other part of British North
     America, not comprised in Rupert's Land, Canada, or British
     Columbia.

     2. Canada is to pay to the Company £300,000 when Rupert's Land
     is transferred to the Dominion of Canada.

     3. The Company may, within twelve months of the surrender,
     select a block of land adjoining each of its stations, within
     the limits specified in Article 1.

     4. The size of the blocks is not to exceed ---- acres in the
     Red River country, nor 3,000 acres beyond that territory, and
     the aggregate extent of the blocks is not to exceed 50,000
     acres.

     5. So far as the configuration of the country admits, the
     blocks are to be in the shape of parallelograms, of which the
     length is not more than double the breadth.

     6. The Hudson's Bay Company may, for fifty years after the
     surrender, claim in any township or district within the Fertile
     Belt, in which land is set out for settlement, grants of land
     not exceeding one-twentieth of the land so set out. The blocks
     so granted to be determined by lot, and the Hudson's Bay
     Company to pay a ratable share of the survey expenses, not
     exceeding ---- an acre.

     7. For the purpose of the present agreement, the Fertile Belt
     is to be bounded as follows: On the south by the United States
     Boundary; on the west by the Rocky Mountains; on the north by
     the northern branch of the Saskatchewan; on the east by Lake
     Winnipeg, the Lake of the Woods, and the waters connecting
     them.

     8. All titles to land up to the 8th of March, 1869, conferred
     by the Company, are to be confirmed.

     9. The Company to be at liberty to carry on its trade without
     hindrance, in its corporate capacity, and no exceptional tax is
     to be placed on the Company's land, trade or servants, nor an
     import duty on goods introduced by them previous to the
     surrender.

     10. Canada is to take over the materials of the Electric
     Telegraph at cost price, such price including transport, but
     not including interest for money, and subject to a deduction
     for ascertained deteriorations.

     11. The Company's claim to land under agreement of Messrs.
     Vankoughnet and Hopkins to be withdrawn.

     12. The details of this arrangement, including the filling up
     of the blanks in Articles 4 and 6, to be settled at once by
     mutual agreement.

[Sidenote: Cession to Canadian Government.]

On such terms did the Canadian Government acquire this vast territory
of two million three hundred thousand square miles. In that portion
designated the Fertile Belt, comprising three hundred million acres,
there were agricultural lands believed to be capable of yielding
support to twenty-five million people.

Filled with high hopes as to the future of the country they had thus
acquired, the Canadian Government was confronted by the necessity of
providing it with a suitable form of government to replace that of the
Company. Little did the public men who had interested themselves in
the negotiations ponder on the difficulties of the task. Apparently
they undertook it with a light heart. During the session of 1869 an
Act was passed at Ottawa providing a provisional form of government in
the territory, and in October of the same year the Hon. William
McDougall received the appointment of Lieutenant-Governor. But before
he set out on his duties surveying parties had been busy in the Red
River settlement, laying out townships and instituting an extended
series of surveys.

[Sidenote: Forlorn case of the Métis.]

In order to be in the place of his government when by the Queen's
Proclamation it should become a portion of the Dominion of Canada,
McDougall, in the month of November, found himself at the frontier of
his Province. But the transfer was not to be consummated without
bloodshed. A portion of the little community of Red River raised its
voice in vehement protest against the arrangements made between the
Government of Canada and the Company. These malcontents, chiefly
French half-breeds, headed by Louis Riel, expelled the Governor
appointed by the Dominion and planned a resistance to all authority
emanating from the same source. They assembled in large numbers, and,
after fortifying portions of the road between Pembina and Fort Garry,
had taken possession of the latter post. Upon consideration of the
case of these wild and ignorant Métis, it is difficult to withhold
from them sympathy. Settled government, forms of law, state duty,
exactions of citizenship, the sacrifices and burdens of urban
civilization--of these he knew but dimly, and held them in a vague
horror. He knew that men lived and ground out their lives in cities
afar off, and that by means of their wealth they possessed power; that
they had cast envious eyes on the hunting-grounds of the Indian and
his half-brother the Métis; that they sought to wrest him from his
lands and mark it off into town lots, people his beloved prairies and
exterminate his race. They must mean him ill or they would not work in
such a silent, stealthy fashion to dispossess him and drive him
farther west into unfamiliar fastnesses. There were fifteen thousand
souls in the country bordering on Red River, and the majority
objected, not without reason, that such an arrangement as had just
been carried out should be done without their consent or having been
consulted. Was it wonderful that the half-breed, resenting this march
of civilization which would trample him and his possessions to atoms,
should arise, seize his rude weapons, and prepare for war?

It is true the insurrection of 1869-70 could have been averted. It
would have been easy, through an agent of tact and eloquence, to have
dispelled the illusions which had taken possession of the Métis, and
to have restored confidence as to the policy of Canada. But was it the
Hudson's Bay Company's duty to enlighten the aggrieved inhabitants?
The Company who had been bullied and badgered and threatened with
confiscation unless it agreed to a renunciation of its rights? Was it
the fault of the Company that several thousand wild Métis children of
the wilderness, passionately attached to the old order of things,
were in their hearts loyal to the Company, which fed and clothed and
administered law to them?[128]

The insurgents, growing bolder, had taken possession of Fort Garry,
where a council of half-breeds was held and the inhabitants called
upon to send delegates to a national convention. The English colonists
accepted the invitation, but were soon made aware that Riel and his
supporters were resolved on more desperate measures than they could
themselves countenance. The authority of the Company had been
observed; but it was now disregarded; the books and records of the
Council of Assiniboia were seized, and on the 1st December a "Bill of
Rights" was passed by the "Provisional Government." This act of open
rebellion caused the secession of the English; insurgency was now
rampant and many of the inhabitants found themselves incarcerated in
gaol. Then followed the illegal infliction of capital punishment upon
Thomas Scott, a young Orangeman, and the despatch of Colonel (now
Lord) Wolseley to the seat of trouble. Leaving Toronto on the 25th of
May, 1870, Wolseley and his force, after a long and arduous journey,
arrived at Fort Garry on the 24th of August. But the rebellion was
already over, and the chief instigator and his companions had fled.

For many years the Company's officers in charge of the various
districts in Rupert's Land had annually met in Council for the
regulation and discussion of affairs of the fur-trade in general.
Regarding themselves as true partners of the Company, they naturally
looked to share with the shareholders in the sum agreed to be paid by
Canada for its territory.

[Sidenote: Turbulent meetings at Hudson's Bay House.]

In July, just one month before the entrance of the future hero of
Tel-el-Kebir and the British troops into Fort Garry, a last meeting of
the council of officers of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company was
held at the post known as Norway House. It was presided over by Fort
Garry's Governor, Mr. Donald Alexander Smith,[129] a servant since
boyhood of the Company. At this meeting it was decided to represent
the claims of the officers to the partners in England. To this end Mr.
Smith was unanimously appointed their representative, he undertaking
the task of presenting their claims. The London shareholders were by
no means immediately acquiescent. But although Sir Stafford Northcote
presided over some turbulent meetings in Fenchurch Street, the claims
of the "wintering partners" were ultimately recognized in the only
manner possible. Out of the £300,000 paid by the Dominion, the sum of
£107,000 was divided amongst the officers for the relinquishment of
their claims.

The Governor of the Company, in his report to the shareholders in
November, stated that "since the holding of the General Court on the
28th June, the Committee have been engaged in proceeding with the
re-organization of the fur-trade, and have entered into an agreement
with the Chief Factors and Chief Traders for revoking the Deed Poll of
1834, and settling claims arising under it upon the terms sanctioned
by the proprietors at the last General Court. They have also prepared
the draft of a new Deed Poll adopted to the altered circumstances of
the trade."

A new era had thus begun in the history of the Honourable Company of
Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay.

FOOTNOTES:

[123] "To my mind the worst feature in the new Company is that of
allowing a foreigner (American) to hold office. He owes allegiance to
the United States, and his position gives him knowledge which no
American should possess. 'Blood is thicker than water,' says the
proverb: 'No man can serve two masters.' As to the idea that being in
the fur-trade his experience and influence will benefit the new
Company, will any furrier believe that? If the Company will sell all
the furs, I would never rest satisfied while an American was in the
management.'"--William McNaughten, the Company's agent at New York.

[124] The eighty-five shares belonging to the wintering partners, in
1863, were held as follows:

     15 chief factors          30 shares
     37 chief traders          37    "
     10 retired chief factors  13    "
     10 retired chief traders   5    "
                               --
                               85 shares.


[125] "Its continued attacks upon the Company," wrote Governor Dallas,
"find a greedy ear with the public at large, both in the settlement
and in Canada."

[126] "With regard to the Hudson's Bay matter," wrote Cartier to
Watkin, under date of 15th of February, 1868, "not the least doubt
that the speech of 'John A.,' was very uncalled for and injudicious. He
had no business to make such a speech, and I told him so at the
time--that he ought not to have made it. However, you must not attach
too much importance to that speech. I myself, and several of my
colleagues, and John A. himself, have no intention to commit any
spoliation; and for myself in particular, I can say to you that I will
never consent to be a party to a measure or anything intended to be an
act of spoliation of the Hudson's Bay's rights and privileges."

[127] "The present state of government in the Red River settlement is
attributable alike to the habitual attempt encouraged, perhaps very
naturally, in England and in Canada, to discredit the tradition and
question the title of the Hudson's Bay Company, and to the false
economy which has stripped the Governor of a military force, with
which, in the last resort, to support the decisions of the legal
tribunals. No other organized government of white men in the world,
since William Penn, has endeavoured to rule any population, still less
a promiscuous people composed of whites, half-breeds, Indians and
borderers, without a soldiery of some sort, and the inevitable result
of the experiment has, in this case, been an unpunished case of
prison-breaking, not sympathized in, it is true, by the majority of
the settlers, but still tending to bring law and government into
contempt, and greatly to discourage the governing body held
responsible for keeping order in the territory."--_Governor Dallas._

[128] "It is an undoubted fact," remarks General Sir William Butler,
"that warning had been given to the Dominion Government of the state
of feeling amongst the half-breeds, and the phrase, 'they are only
eaters of pemmican,' so cutting to the Métis, was thus first
originated by a distinguished Canadian politician."

[129] The distinguished philanthropist, the present Lord Strathcona
and Mount Royal, High Commissioner for Canada in London and Governor
of the Hudson's Bay Company.

  [Illustration: THE TRADING ROOM AT A HUDSON'S BAY POST.]




CHAPTER XXXVI.

1821-1871.

     The Company still King in the North-West -- Its Forts Described
     -- Fort Garry -- Fort Vancouver -- Franklin -- Walla Walla --
     Yukon -- Kamloops -- Samuel Black -- Mountain House -- Fort
     Pitt -- Policy of the Great Company.


The Company, in yielding the sovereignty of the Great North-West to
Canada, was still a king, though crown and sceptre had been taken from
it. Its commercial ascendancy was no whit injured; it is still one of
the greatest corporations and the greatest fur company in the world.
But new interests have arisen; its pristine pride, splendour and
dignity, would now be out of place. The old lion has been shorn of its
mane, and his roar is now no longer heard in the Great North-West. It
no longer crouches in the path of progress determined to sell dearly
the smallest sacrifice of its ancient rights and privileges; it is
ready to co-operate with the settler and explorer, and all its whilom
enemies.

[Sidenote: Canada's debt to the Company.]

Yet, since 1871, its history has not been without many stirring
passages. Its long record of steady work, enterprise, and endurance,
has never been greater. Its commanding influence with the Indians, and
with a large number of the colonists, has enabled it to assist the
authorities in many ways and often in forwarding the public interests,
suppressing disorder and securing the good-will of the Red men who
inhabit Canada. The Great Dominion owes much to the Great Company.

The posts of the Company reach from the stern coasts of Labrador to
the frontiers of Alaska, and throughout this enormous region it yet
controls the traffic with the aborigines. To-day there are one hundred
and twenty-six posts at which this active trade is conducted, besides
those numerous wintering stations or outposts, which migrate according
to circumstances and mercantile conditions.

  [Illustration: YORK FACTORY. ARRIVAL OF HUDSON'S BAY CO.'S SHIP.
   (_By permission, from "Picturesque Canada."_)]

[Sidenote: Latter-day forts of the Company.]

The forts of the Company in Rupert's Land and on the Pacific, with few
exceptions, all resembled each other. When permanent, they were
surrounded by palisades about one hundred yards square. The pickets
were of poles and logs ten or fifteen inches in diameter, sunk into
the ground and rising fifteen or twenty feet above it. Split slabs
were sometimes used instead of round poles; and at two diagonally
opposite corners, raised above the tops of the pickets, two wooden
bastions were placed so as to command a view of the country. From two
to six guns were mounted in each of these bastions--four six or
twelve-pounders, each with its aperture like the port-hole of a ship.
The ground floor beneath served as a magazine. Within the pickets were
erected houses, according to necessity, store and dwelling being most
conspicuous.

  [Illustration: FORT PELLY.]

The older forts have already been described. When Fort Garry was
constructed it became the Company's chief post and headquarters. High
stone walls, having round towers pierced for cannon at the corners,
enclosed a square wherein were substantial wooden buildings,
including the storehouses, dwellings, the Governor's residence and the
gaol. Some distance below Fort Garry, on Red River, was Stone Fort,
which comprised about four acres, with numerous buildings.

The chief establishment of the Saskatchewan district was Fort
Edmonton. It was of sexagonal form, with pickets, battlemented
gateways and bastions. Here were the usual buildings, including the
carpenter's shop, blacksmith's forge and windmill. At Fort Edmonton
were made and repaired, boats, carts, sleighs, harness and other
articles and appliances for the annual voyage to York Factory, and for
traffic between posts. There was also here a large and successful
farm, where wheat, barley and vegetables were raised in abundance.

How different was Fort Franklin, a rough, pine-log hut on the shore of
Great Bear Lake, containing a single apartment eighteen by twenty
feet! It was roofed with sticks and moss, and the interstices between
the logs were filled with mud.

[Sidenote: Fort Vancouver.]

In 1825 was built Fort Vancouver, the metropolitan establishment of
the Company on the Pacific. It stood on the north side of the Columbia
River, six miles above the eastern mouth of the Willamette. At first
located at the highest point of some sloping land, about a mile from
the river, this site was found disadvantageous to transport and
communication, and the fort was moved a few years later to within a
quarter of a mile of the Columbia. The plan presented the familiar
parallelogram, but much larger than usual, of about seven hundred and
fifty feet in length and five hundred in breadth. The interior was
divided into two courts, with about forty buildings, all of wood,
except the powder magazine, which was of stone. In the centre, facing
the main entrance, stood the Governor's residence, with the
dining-room, smoking-room, and public sitting-room or bachelors' hall,
the latter serving also for a museum of Indian relics and other
curiosities. Single men, clerks and others, made the bachelors' hall
their place of resort, but artisans and servants were not admitted.
The residence was the only two-storey house in the fort, and before
its door were mounted two old eighteen-pounders. Two swivel guns
stood before the quarters of the chief factor. A prominent position
was occupied by the Roman Catholic chapel, to which the majority of
the fort's inmates resorted, the dining-hall serving for the smaller
number of Church of England worshippers. The other buildings were
dwellings for officers and men, school and warehouses, retail stores
and artisan shops. The interior of the dwellings exhibited, as a rule,
an unpainted pine-board panel, with bunks for bedsteads, and a few
other simple pieces of furniture.

  [Illustration: FORT SIMPSON.]

Another post on the Pacific, of different character and greater
strength, was Fort Walla Walla. It stood on the site of Fort Nez
Percé, which was established when the Indians attacked Ogden's party
of fur-traders here in 1818. The assault was repelled; but it was
found necessary as a safeguard to rear this retreat. Fort Walla Walla
was built of adobe and had a military establishment.

A strong fort was Fort Rupert, on the north-east coast of Vancouver
Island. For a stockade, huge pine trees were sunk into the ground and
fastened together on the inside with beams. Round the interior ran a
gallery, and at two opposite corners were flanking bastions mounting
four nine-pounders. Within were the usual shops and buildings, while
smaller stockades protected the garden and out-houses.

Fort Yukon was the most remote post of the Company. It was beyond the
line of Russian America, and consequently invited comparison with the
smaller and meaner Russian establishments. Its commodious dwellings
for officers and men had smooth floors, open fire-places, glazed
windows, and plastered walls. Its gun room, fur press, ice and meat
wells were the delight and astonishment of visitors, white and red.

  [Illustration: YORK FACTORY.]

After the treaty of 1846, by which the United States obtained
possession of Oregon territory, the headquarters of the Company on the
Pacific Coast were transferred from Fort Vancouver to Fort Victoria.
This post was enclosed one hundred yards square by cedar pickets
twenty feet high. At the north-east and south-west corners were
octagonal bastions mounted with six six-pounders. It had been founded
three years earlier as a trading post and depot for whalers, and
possessed more than three hundred acres under cultivation, besides a
large dairy farm, from which the Russian colonies in Alaska received
supplies.

Old Fort Kamloops was first called Fort Thompson, having been begun by
David Thompson, astronomer of the North-West Company, on his overland
journey from Montreal to Astoria, by way of Yellowhead Pass, in 1810.
It was the capital of the Thompson River district, and one of the
oldest in all the Oregon region. After Thompson, hither came Alexander
Ross, who, in 1812, conducted operations there on behalf of Astor's
Pacific Fur Company. After the coalition in 1821, the veteran
fur-trader, John McLeod, was in charge of the Thompson River district.
Then came Ermatinger, who presided at Kamloops in 1828, when Governor
Simpson visited the fort and harangued the neighbouring Indians,
beseeching them to be "honest, temperate and frugal; to love their
friends, the fur-traders, and above all to bring in their heaps of
peltries, and receive therefor the goods of the Company."

[Sidenote: Legend of Kamloops.]

The post was not without thrilling legends and abundance of romance.
It was here that the Company's officer in command, Samuel Black, in
1840, challenged his brother Scot, and guest, David Douglas, the
wandering botanist, to fight a duel, because the latter bluntly, one
night, over his rum and dried salmon, had stigmatized the Honourable
Adventurers as "not possessing a soul above a beaver skin." Black
repelled in fury such an assertion; but Douglas refused to fight. He
took his departure, only to meet his death shortly afterwards by
falling into a pit at Hawaii, while homeward bound.

If this was the fate of the calumniator of the Company, that of its
defender was not less tragic; for soon after his display of loyalty,
while residing at Fort Kamloops, he was assassinated by the nephew of
a friendly neighbouring chief, named Wanquille, "for having charmed
his uncle's life away." Black's successor, John Tod, built a new fort
on the opposite side of the river, which differed but little from the
later fortresses of the Company. There were seven houses, including
stores, dwellings and shops, enclosed in palisades fifteen feet in
height, with gates on two sides and bastions at two opposite angles.

Early in 1848 a small post was erected by the Company on the Fraser
River, near a village of the Lachincos, adjacent to the rapids
ascended by Alexander Anderson the previous year. The fort was called
Yale, in honour of Chief Factor Yale, who was at that time in charge
of Fort Langley. It was the only post on that wild stream, the Fraser,
between Langley and Alexandria, a distance of some three hundred
miles. Two causes led to its erection: the Waiilatpu massacre in 1847,
and the conclusion of the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which placed the
boundary line several degrees north of the Lower Columbia.

  [Illustration: FATHER LACOMBE.]

[Sidenote: Mountain House.]

Perhaps one of the most remarkable of the Company's posts was Mountain
House. "Every precaution known to the traders," writes a visitor of
thirty years ago, "has been put in force to prevent the possibility of
a surprise during 'a trade.' Bars and bolts, and places to fire down
at the Indians who are trading, abound in every direction; so dreaded
is the name borne by the Blackfeet, that it is thus their trading-post
has been constructed." Eighty years ago, the Company had a post far
south of the Bow River, in the very heart of the Blackfeet country;
but, despite all precautions, it was frequently plundered and finally
burnt down by the Blackfeet, and no attempt was since made to
construct another fort in their country.

The hilly country around Fort Pitt was frequently the scene of Indian
ambush and attack, and on more than one occasion the post itself has
been captured by the Blackfeet. The surroundings are a favourite
camping-ground of the Crees; and it was found difficult to persuade
the Blackfeet that the factors and traders there are not the active
friends and allies of their enemies. In fact, they regarded both Fort
Pitt and Fort Carlton as places belonging to another company from that
which ruled at Mountain House and Edmonton. "If it was the same
company," they were wont to say, "how could they give our enemies, the
Crees, guns and powder; for do they not give us guns and powder, too?"

The strength of the Company throughout the vast region where their
rule was paramount, was rather a moral strength than a physical one.
Its roots lay deep in the heart of the savage, who in time came to
regard the great corporation as the embodiment of all that was good,
and great, and true, and powerful. He knew that under its sway justice
was secured to him; that if innocent he would be unharmed, that if
guilty he would inevitably pay the penalty of his transgression. The
prairie was wide, the forests were trackless, but in all those
thousands of miles there came to be no haven for the horse-thief, the
incendiary or the murderer, where he would be free, in his beleaguered
fastness, to elude or defy Nemesis. The Company made it its business
to find and punish the real offender; they did not avenge themselves
on his friends or tribe. But punishment was certain--blood was paid
for in blood, and there was no trial. Often did an intrepid factor,
trader or clerk, enter a hostile camp, himself destitute of followers,
walk up to the trembling malefactor, raise his gun or pistol, take
aim, fire, and seeing his man fall, stalk away again to the nearest
fort.

"This certainty of punishment," it was said, "acted upon the savage
mind with all the power of a superstition. Felons trembled before the
white man's justice, as in the presence of the Almighty."

That sense of injustice which rankled in the bosoms of the other
Indians of the Continent, causing them to continually break out and
give battle to their tormentors and oppressors--a warfare which, in
1870, had cost the United States more than five hundred million of
dollars, could not exist. The Red men, as Red men, could have no
well-founded grievance against the Company, which treated white and
red with equity.

[Sidenote: The Great Company's Policy.]

"I have no hesitation in attributing the great success attendant for
so many years upon the Indian policy of the Hudson's Bay Company,"
wrote an American Commissioner, Lieutenant Scott, in 1867, "to the
following facts:--

"The savages are treated justly--receiving protection in life and
property from the laws which they are forced to obey.

"There is no Indian Bureau with attendant complications.

"There is no pretended recognition of the Indian's title in fee-simple
to the lands on which he roams for fish or game.

"Intoxicating liquors were not introduced amongst these people so long
as the Hudson's Bay Company preserved the monopoly of trade.

"Prompt punishment follows the perpetration of crime, and from time to
time the presence of a gunboat serves to remind the savages along the
coast of the power of their masters. Not more than two years ago the
Fort Rupert Indians were severely punished for refusing to deliver up
certain animals demanded by the civil magistrate. Their village was
bombarded and completely destroyed by Her Britannic Majesty's gunboat
_Clio_."

What was the direct consequence of such a policy? That among distant
and powerful tribes trading posts were built and maintained, well
stocked with goods tempting to savage cupidity, yet peacefully
conducted by one or two white men. There was not a regular soldier in
all this territory (except the marines on shipboard and at Esquimault)
and yet white men could hunt through the length and breadth of the
land in almost absolute security.

  [Illustration: GATEWAY TO FORT GARRY.
   (_Drawn by Edmund Morris, from a Photo taken in 1877._)]

Search all Europe and Asia, and you will find no parallel to the
present sway of the Company, for it feeds and clothes, amuses and
instructs, as well as rules nine-tenths of its subjects, from the
Esquimaux tribes of Ungava to the Loucheaux at Fort Simpson,
thousands of miles away--all look to it as to a father.

The communication with the outside world is slight, yet the thread
that binds is encrusted with hoar frost, reaching far away to that
little island in the North Sea which we call Britain. If these strong
men, immured for years in the icy wildernesses are moved by the news
which reaches them twice in the year, through a thousand miles and
more of snow, it is British news. Kitchener's victory at Khartoum sent
a patriotic thrill through thousands of bosoms six months after it
became known to the Englishman who is content to live at home.




THE HUDSON'S BAY POSTS.


In their Report of 28th June, 1872, the Governor and Committee report
the details of the varied posts from Ocean to Ocean of the Hudson's
Bay Company, as follows:--

     _Statement of Land belonging to the HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY,
     exclusive of their claim to one-twentieth of the Land set out
     for settlement in the "Fertile Belt."_

     ========================+====+==========================+=======
                             |    |                          | Acres
             DISTRICT.       |    |        POST.             |  of
                             |    |                          | Land
     ------------------------+----+--------------------------+-------
     Lake Huron              |  1 | La Cloche                | 6,400
     Temiscaminque           |  2 | Kakababeagino            |    10
     Superior                |  3 | Long Lake                |    10
     United States           |  4 | Georgetown               | 1,133
                             |    |                          |
     Manitoba, or          } |  5 | Fort Garry               |   500
     Red River Settlement  } |  6 | Lower Fort               |   500
                             |  7 | White Horse Plains       |   500
     Manitoba Lake           |  8 | Oak Point                |    50
     Portage la Prairie      |  9 |                          | 1,000
                             |    |                          |
     Lac la Pluie            | 10 | Fort Alexander           |   500
                             | 11 | Fort Frances             |   500
                             | 12 | Eagles Nest              |    20
                             | 13 | Big Island               |    20
                             | 14 | Lac du Bennet            |    20
                             | 15 | Rat Portage              |    50
                             | 16 | Shoal Lake               |    20
                             | 17 | Lake of the Woods        |    50
                             | 18 | White Fish Lake          |    20
                             | 19 | English River            |    20
                             | 20 | Hungry Hall              |    20
                             | 21 | Trout Lake               |    20
                             | 22 | Clear Water Lake         |    20
                             | 23 | Sandy Point              |    20
                             |    |                          |
     Swan River              | 24 | Fort Pelly               | 3,000
                             | 25 | Fort Ellice              | 3,000
                             | 26 | Qu'Appelle Lakes         | 2,500
                             | 27 | Touchwood Hills          |   500
                             | 28 | Shoal River              |    50
                             | 29 | Manitoban                |    50
                             | 30 | Fairford                 |   100
                             |    |                          |
     CUMBERLAND              | 31 | Cumberland House         |   100
                             | 32 | Fort la Corne            | 3,000
                             | 33 | Pelican Lake             |    50
                             | 34 | Moose Woods              | 1,000
                             | 35 | The Pas                  |    25
                             | 36 | Moose Lake               |    50
                             | 37 | Grand Rapid Portage      |   100
                             |    |                          |50 Acres
                             |    |                          |at each
                             |    |                          |end of
                             |    |                          |Portage
     SASKATCHEWAN            | 38 | Edmonton House           | 3,000
                             | 39 | Rocky Mountain House     |   500
                             | 40 | Fort Victoria            | 3,000
                             | 41 | St. Paul                 | 3,000
                             | 42 | Fort Pitt                | 3,000
                             | 43 | Battle River             | 3,000
                             | 44 | Carlton House            | 3,000
                             | 45 | Fort Albert              | 3,000
                             | 46 | Whitefish Lake           |   500
                             | 47 | Lac la Biche             | 1,000
                             | 48 | Fort Assiniboine         |    50
                             | 49 | Lesser Slave Lake        |   500
                             | 50 | Lac St. Anne             |   500
                             | 51 | Lac la Nun               |   500
                             | 52 | St. Albert               | 1,000
                             | 53 | Pigeon Lake              |   100
                             | 54 | Old White Mud Fort       |    50
                             |    |                          |
     ENGLISH RIVER           | 55 | Isle à la Crosse         |    50
                             | 56 | Rapid River              |     5
                             | 57 | Portage la Loche         |    20
                             | 58 | Green Lake               |   100
                             | 59 | Cold Lake                |    10
                             | 60 | Deers Lake               |     5
                             |    |                          |
     YORK                    | 61 | York Factory             |   100
                             | 62 | Churchill                |    10
                             | 63 | Severn                   |    10
                             | 64 | Trout Lake               |    10
                             | 65 | Oxford                   |   100
                             | 66 | Jackson's Bay            |    10
                             | 67 | God's Lake               |    10
                             | 68 | Island Lake              |    10
                             |    |                          |
     NORWAY HOUSE            | 69 | Norway House             |   100
                             | 70 | Berens River             |    25
                             | 71 | Grand Rapid              |    10
                             | 72 | Nelson's River           |    10
                             |    |                          |
     ALBANY                  | 73 | Albany Factory           |   100
                             | 74 | Martin's Falls           |    10
                             | 75 | Osnaburg                 |    25
                             | 76 | Lac Seul                 |   500
                             |    |                          |
     EAST MAIN               | 77 | Little Whale River       |    50
                             | 78 | Great Whale River        |    50
                             | 79 | Fort George              |    25
                             |    |                          |
     MOOSE                   | 80 | Moose Factory            |   100
                             | 81 | Hannah Bay               |    10
                             | 82 | Abitibi                  |    10
                             | 83 | New Brunswick            |    25
                             |    |                          |
     RUPERT'S RIVER          | 84 | Rupert's House           |    50
                             | 85 | Mistassing               |    10
                             | 86 | Temiskamay               |    10
                             | 87 | Woswonaby                |    10
                             | 88 | Meehiskun                |    10
                             | 89 | Pike Lake                |    10
                             | 90 | Nitchequon               |    10
                             | 91 | Kamapiscan               |    10
                             |    |                          |
     KINOGUMISSEE            | 92 | Matawagauinque           |    50
                             | 93 | Kuckatoosh               |    10
                             |    |                          |
     LABRADOR                | 94 | Fort Nascopie            |    75
                             | 95 | Outposts do              |    25
                             | 96 | Fort Chimo (Ungava)      |   100
                             | 97 | South River, Outposts    |    30
                             | 98 | George's River           |    50
                             | 99 | Whale River              |    50
                             |100 | North's River            |    25
                             |101 | False River              |    25
                             |    |                          |
     ATHABASCA               |102 | Fort Chippewyan          |    10
                             |103 | Fort Vermilion           |   500
                             |104 | Fort Dunvegan            |    50
                             |105 | Fort St. John's          |    20
                             |106 | Forks of Athabasca River |    10
                             |107 | Battle River             |     5
                             |108 | Fond du Lac              |     5
                             |109 | Salt River               |     5
                             |    |                          |
     MCKENZIE RIVER          |110 | Fort Simpson             |   100
                             |111 | Fort Liard               |   300
                             |112 | Fort Nelson              |   200
                             |113 | The Rapids               |   100
                             |114 | Hay River                |    20
                             |115 | Fort Resolution          |    20
                             |116 | Fort Rae                 |    10
                             |117 | Fond du Lac              |    10
                             |118 | Fort Norman              |    10
                             |119 | Fort Good Hope           |    10
                             |120 | Peel's River             |    10
                             |121 | Lapierre's House         |    10
                             |122 | Fort Halkett             |   100
     ------------------------+----+--------------------------+------


WESTERN DEPARTMENT.

     ===============+========================================+======
                    |                                        | Acres
        DISTRICT.   |             POST.                      |  of
                    |                                        | Land
     ---------------+----+-----------------------------------+------
      VANCOUVER'S   | 123| Victoria, including Town Lots,    |
         ISLAND     |    |   about                           |    70
                    | 124| Esquimault (Puget's Sound         |
                    |    |   Company's Land)                 | 2,300
                    | 125| Uplands Farm                      | 1,125
                    | 126| North Dairy Farm                  |   460
                    |    |                                   |
      BRITISH       | 127| Fort Alexander                    |   100
      COLUMBIA      | 128| Fort George                       |   100
                    | 129| Fraser's Lake                     |   100
                    | 130| Stuart's Lake                     |   100
                    | 131| McLeod's Lake                     |   100
                    | 132| Connolly's Lake                   |   100
                    | 133| Babine                            |   100
                    | 134| Chilcotin                         |   100
                    |    | Five other places                 |   100
                    | 135| Fort Dallas                       |    50
                    | 136| Fort Berens                       |    50
                    | 137| Fort Shepherd                     |   100
                    | 138| Fort Simpson                      |   100
                    | 139| Salmon River                      |    50
                    | 140| Langley and Langley Farm          | 2,220
                    | 141| Yale, sundry small blocks         |
                    | 142| Hope                              |     5
                    | 143| Kamloops                          | 1,976
                    | 144| Similkameen                       | 1,140
                    |    | Barkerville                     } | Town
                    |    | Quesnel                         } | Lots.
     ---------------+----+-----------------------------------+-------




APPENDIX.




THE CHARTER INCORPORATING THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.


_Granted by His Majesty King Charles the Second, in the 22nd Year of
his Reign, A.D. 1670._

     CHARLES THE SECOND, by the grace of God, King of England,
     Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.

     To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

Whereas our dear entirely beloved Cousin, Prince Rupert, Count
Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria and Cumberland, &c.;
Christopher Duke of Albemarle, William Earl of Craven, Henry Lord
Arlington, Anthony Lord Ashley, Sir John Robinson, and Sir Robert
Vyner, Knights and Baronets; Sir Peter Colleton, Baronet; Sir Edward
Hungerford, Knight of the Bath; Sir Paul Neele, Knight; Sir John
Griffith and Sir Philip Carteret, Knights; James Hayes, John Kirk,
Francis Millington, William Prettyman, John Fenn, Esquires; and John
Portman, Citizen and Goldsmith of London; have, at their own great
cost, and charges, undertaken an expedition for Hudson's Bay in the
north-west part of America, for the discovery of a new passage into
the South Sea, and for the finding some trade for furs, minerals, and
other considerable commodities, and by such their undertaking have
already made such discoveries as to encourage them to proceed further
in pursuance of their said design, by means whereof there may probably
arise very great advantages to us and our kingdom.

And whereas the said undertakers, for their further encouragement in
the said design, have humbly besought us to incorporate them, and
grant unto them and their successors the sole trade and commerce of
all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in
whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the
straits commonly called the Hudson's Straits, together with all the
lands, countries and territories upon the coasts and confines of the
seas, straits, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks and sounds aforesaid, which
are not now actually possessed by any of our subjects, or by the
subjects of any other Christian Prince or State.

Now know ye, that we, being desirous to promote all endeavours tending
to the public good of our people, and to encourage the said
undertaking, have, of our especial grace, certain knowledge and mere
motion, given, granted, ratified and confirmed, and by these presents,
for us, our heirs and successors, do give, grant, ratify and confirm,
unto our said Cousin, Prince Rupert, Christopher Duke of Albemarle,
William Earl of Craven, Henry Lord Arlington, Anthony Lord Ashley,
Sir John Robinson, Sir Robert Vyner, Sir Peter Colleton, Sir Edward
Hungerford, Sir Paul Neele, Sir John Griffith and Sir Philip Carteret,
James Hayes, John Kirk, Francis Millington, William Prettyman, John
Fenn and John Portman, that they, and such others as shall be admitted
into the said society as is hereafter expressed, shall be one body
corporate and politic, in deed and in name, by the name of "The
Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's
Bay," and them by the name of "The Governor and Company of Adventurers
of England trading into Hudson's Bay," one body corporate and politic,
in deed and in name, really and fully forever, for us, our heirs and
successors, we do make, ordain, constitute, establish, confirm and
declare by these presents, and that by the same name of Governor and
Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay, they
shall have perpetual succession, and that they and their successors,
by the name of The Governor and Company of Adventures trading into
Hudson's Bay, be, and at all times hereafter shall be personable and
capable in law to have, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy and retain
lands, rents, privileges, liberties, jurisdictions, franchises and
hereditaments, of what kind, nature or quality so ever they be, to
them and their successors; and also to give, grant, demise, alien,
assign and dispose lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and to do and
execute all and singular other things by the same name that to them
shall or may appertain to do; and that they and their successors, by
the name of The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading
into Hudson's Bay, may plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered,
defend and be defended, in whatsoever courts and places, before
whatsoever judges and justices and other persons and officers, in all
and singular actions, pleas, suits, quarrels, causes and demands
whatsoever, of whatsoever kind, nature or sort, in such manner and
form as any other our liege people of this our realm of England, being
persons able and capable in law, may or can have, purchase, receive,
possess, enjoy, retain, give, grant, demise, alien, assign, dispose,
plead, defend and be defended, do, permit and execute: and that the
said Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into
Hudson's Bay, and their successors, may have a common seal to serve
for all the causes and businesses of them and their successors, and
that it shall and may be lawful to the said Governor and Company, and
their successors, the same seal, from time to time, at their will and
pleasure, to break, change, and to make anew or alter, as to them
shall seem expedient.

And further we will, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and
successors, we do ordain that there shall be from henceforth one of
the same company to be elected and appointed in such form as hereafter
in these presents is expressed, which shall be called the Governor of
the said Company; and that the said Governor and Company shall or may
select seven of their number, and in such form as hereafter in these
presents is expressed, which shall be called the Committee of the
said Company, which Committee of seven, or any three of them, together
with the Governor or Deputy Governor of the said Company for the time
being shall have the direction of the voyages of and for the said
Company, and the provision of the shipping and merchandises thereunto
belonging, and also the sale of all merchandises, goods and other
things returned, in all or any the voyages or ships of or for the said
Company, and the managing and handling of all other business, affairs
and things belonging to the said Company: And we will, ordain and
grant by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, unto the
said Governor and Company, and their successors, that they, the said
Governor and Company, and their successors, shall from henceforth for
ever be ruled, ordered and governed according to such manner and form
as is hereafter in these presents expressed, and not otherwise; and
that they shall have, hold, retain and enjoy the grants, liberties,
privileges, jurisdictions and immunities only hereafter in these
presents granted and expressed, and no other: And for the better
execution of our will and grant in this behalf we have assigned,
nominated, constituted and made, and by these presents, for us, our
heirs and successors, we do assign, constitute and make our said
Cousin Prince Rupert, to be the first and present Governor of the said
Company, and to continue in the said office from the date of these
presents until the 10th November then next following, if he, the said
Prince Rupert, shall so long live, and so until a new Governor be
chosen by the said Company in form hereafter expressed: And also we
have assigned, nominated and appointed, and by these presents, for us,
our heirs and successors, we do assign, nominate and constitute the
said Sir John Robinson, Sir John Vyner, Sir Peter Colleton, James
Hayes, John Kirk, Francis Millington and John Portman to be the seven
first and present Committee of the said Company, from the date of
these presents until the said 10th day of November then also next
following, and so on until new Committees shall be chosen in form
hereafter expressed: And further we will and grant by these presents,
for us, our heirs and successors, unto the said Governor and Company,
and their successors, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the
said Governor and Company for the time being, or the greater part of
them present at any public assembly, commonly called the Court
General, to be holden for the said Company, the Governor of the said
Company being always one, from time to time elect, nominate and
appoint one of the said Company to be Deputy to the said Governor,
which Deputy shall take a corporal oath, before the Governor and three
or more of the Committee of the said Company for the time being, well,
truly and faithfully to execute his said office of Deputy to the
Governor of the said Company, and after his oath so taken, shall and
may from time to time, in the absence of the said Governor, exercise
and execute the office of Governor of the said Company, in such sort
as the said Governor ought to do: And further we will and grant by
these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, unto the said
Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's
Bay, and their successors, that they, or the greater part of them,
whereof the Governor for the time being or his Deputy to be one, from
time to time, and at all times hereafter, shall and may have authority
and power, yearly and every year, between the first and last day of
November, to assemble and meet together in some convenient place, to
be appointed from time to time by the Governor, or in his absence by
the Deputy of the said Governor for the time being, and that they
being so assembled, it shall and may be lawful to and for the said
Governor or Deputy of the said Governor, and the said Company for the
time being, or the greater part of them which then shall happen to be
present, whereof the Governor of the said Company or his Deputy for
the time being to be one, to elect and nominate one of the said
Company, which shall be Governor of the said Company for one whole
year then next following, which person being so elected and nominated
to be Governor of the said Company, as is aforesaid, before he be
admitted to the execution of the said office, shall take a corporal
oath before the last Governor, being his predecessor, or his Deputy,
and any three or more of the Committee of the said Company for the
time being, that he shall from time to time well and truly execute the
office of Governor of the said Company in all things concerning the
same; and that immediately after the said oath so taken he shall and
may execute and use the said office of Governor of the said Company
for one whole year from thence next following: And in like sort we
will and grant that as well every one of the above-named to be of the
said Company of fellowship, as all others hereafter to be admitted or
free of the said Company, shall take a corporal oath before the
Governor of the said Company or his Deputy for the time being to such
effect as by the said Governor and Company or the greater part of them
in any public Court to be held for the said Company, shall be in
reasonable and legal manner set down and devised, before they shall be
allowed or admitted to trade or traffic as a freeman of the said
Company: And further we will and grant by these presents, for us, our
heirs and successors, unto the said Governor and Company, and their
successors, that the said Governor or Deputy Governor, and the rest of
the said Company, and their successors for the time being, or the
greater part of them, whereof the Governor or Deputy-Governor from
time to time to be one, shall and may from time to time, and at all
times hereafter, have power and authority, yearly and every year,
between the first and last day of November, to assemble and meet
together in some convenient place, from time to time to be appointed
by the said Governor of the said Company, or in his absence by his
Deputy; and that they being so assembled, it shall and may be lawful
to and for the said Governor or his Deputy, and the Company for the
time being, or the greater part of them which then shall happen to be
present, whereof the Governor of the said Company or his Deputy for
the time being to be one, to elect and nominate seven of the said
Company, which shall be a Committee of the said Company for one whole
year from thence next ensuing, which persons being so elected and
nominated to be a Committee of the said Company as aforesaid, before
they be admitted to the execution of their office, shall take a
corporal oath before the Governor or his Deputy, and any three or more
of the said Committee of the said Company, being their last
predecessors, that they and every of them shall well and faithfully
perform their said office of Committees in all things concerning the
same, and that immediately after the said oath so taken, they shall
and may execute and use their said office of Committees of the said
Company for one whole year from thence next following: And moreover,
our will and pleasure is, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and
successors, we do grant under the said Governor and Company, and their
successors, that when and as often as it shall happen, the Governor or
Deputy Governor of the said Company for the time being, at any time
within one year after that he shall be nominated, elected and sworn to
the office of the Governor of the said Company as is aforesaid, to die
or to be removed from the said office, which Governor or Deputy
Governor not demeaning himself well in his said office WE WILL to be
removable at the pleasure of the rest of the said Company, or the
greater part of them which shall be present at their public assemblies
commonly called their General Courts, holden for the said Company,
that then and so often it shall and may be lawful to and for the
residue of the said Company for the time being, or the greater part of
them, within a convenient time after the death or removing of any such
Governor or Deputy Governor, to assemble themselves in such convenient
place as they shall think fit, for the election of the Governor or the
Deputy Governor of the said Company; and that the said Company, or the
greater part of them, being then and there present, shall and may,
then and there, before their departure from the said place, elect and
nominate one other of the said Company to be Governor or Deputy
Governor for the said Company in the place and stead of him that so
died or was removed; which person being so elected and nominated to
the office of Governor or Deputy Governor of the said Company, shall
have and exercise the said office for and during the residue of the
next year, taking first a corporal oath, as is aforesaid, for the due
execution thereof; and this to be done from time to time so often as
the case shall so require: And also our will and pleasure is, and by
these presents for us, our heirs and successors, WE DO GRANT unto the
said Governor and Company, that when and as often as it shall happen
any person or persons of the Committee of the said Company for the
time being, at any time within one year next after they or any of them
shall be nominated, elected and sworn to the office of Committee of
the said Company as is aforesaid, to die or to be removed from the
said office, which Committees not demeaning themselves well in their
said office, we will to be removable at the pleasure of the said
Governor and Company or the greater part of them, whereof the Governor
of the said Company for the time being or his Deputy to be one, that
then and so often, it shall and may be lawful to and for the said
Governor, and the rest of the Company for the time being, or the
greater part of them, whereof the Governor for the time being or his
Deputy to be one, within convenient time after the death or removing
of any of the said Committee, to assemble themselves in such
convenient place as is or shall be usual and accustomed for the
election of the Governor of the said Company, or where else the
Governor of the said Company for the time being or his Deputy shall
appoint: And that the said Governor and Company, or the greater part
of them, whereof the Governor for the time being or his Deputy to be
one, being then and there present, shall and may, then and there,
before their departure from the said place, elect and nominate one or
more of the said Company to be the Committee of the said Company in
the place and stead of him or them that so died, or were or was so
removed, which person or persons so nominated and elected to the
office of Committee of the said Company, shall have and exercise the
said office for and during the residue of the said year, taking first
a corporal oath, as is aforesaid, for the due execution thereof, and
this to be done from time to time, so often as the case shall require:

     And to the end the said Governor and Company of Adventurers of
     England trading into Hudson's Bay may be encouraged to
     undertake and effectually to prosecute the said design, of our
     more especial grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, we have
     given, granted and confirmed, and by these presents, for us,
     our heirs and successors, DO give, grant and confirm, unto the
     said Governor and Company, and their successors, the sole trade
     and commerce of all these seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes,
     creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that
     lie within the entrance of the straits, commonly called
     Hudson's Straits, together with all the lands and territories
     upon the countries, coasts, and confines of the seas, bays,
     lakes, rivers, creeks and sounds aforesaid, that are not
     already actually possessed by or granted to any of our
     subjects, or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian
     Prince or State, with the fishing of all sorts of fish, whales,
     sturgeons and all other royal fishes, in the seas, bays, inlets
     and rivers within the premises, and the fish therein taken,
     together with the royalty of the sea upon the coasts within the
     limits aforesaid, and all mines royal, as well discovered as
     not discovered, of gold, silver, gems and precious stones, to
     be found or discovered within the territories, limits and
     places aforesaid, and that the said land be from henceforth
     reckoned and reputed as one of our plantations or colonies in
     America, called "Rupert's Land."

And further 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 same territory, limits and places, and of all
other the premises, saving always the faith, allegiance and sovereign
dominion due to us, our heirs and successors, for the same to have,
hold, possess and enjoy the said territory, limits and places, and all
and singular other the premises hereby granted as aforesaid, with
their and every of their rights, members, jurisdictions, prerogatives,
royalties and appurtenances whatsoever, to them the said Governor and
Company, and their successors for ever, to be holden of us, our heirs
and successors, as of our manor at East Greenwich, in our County of
Kent, in free and common soccage, and not in capite or by Knight's
service, yielding and paying yearly to us, our heirs and successors,
for the same, two elks and two black beavers, whensoever and as often
as we, our heirs and successors, shall happen to enter into the said
countries, territories and regions hereby granted.

And further, our will and pleasure is, and by these presents, for us,
our heirs and successors, we do grant unto the said Governor and
Company, and their successors, that it shall and may be lawful to and
for the said Governor and Company, and their successors, from time to
time, to assemble themselves, for or about any the matters, causes,
affairs, or business of the said trade, in any place or places for the
same convenient, within our dominions or elsewhere, and there to hold
Court for the said Company and the affairs thereof; and that also, it
shall and may be lawful to and for them, and the greater part of them,
being so assembled, and that shall then and there be present, in any
such place or places, whereof the Governor or his Deputy for the time
being to be one, to make, ordain and constitute such and so many
reasonable laws, constitutions, orders and ordinances as to them, or
the greater part of them, being then and there present, shall seem
necessary and convenient for the good government of the said Company,
and of all governors of colonies, forts and plantations, factors,
masters, mariners and other officers employed or to be employed in any
of the territories and lands aforesaid, and in any of their voyages,
and for the better advancement and continuance of the said trade or
traffic and plantations, and the same laws, constitutions, orders and
ordinances so made, to put in use and execute accordingly, and at
their pleasure to revoke and alter the same or any of them, as the
occasion shall require: And that the said Governor and Company, so
often as they shall make, ordain or establish any such laws,
constitutions, orders and ordinances, in such form as aforesaid shall
and may lawfully impose, ordain, limit and provide such pains,
penalties and punishments upon all offenders, contrary to such laws,
constitutions, orders and ordinances, or any of them, as to the said
Governor and Company for the time being, or the greater part of them,
then and there being present, the said Governor or his Deputy being
always one, shall seem necessary, requisite or convenient for the
observation of the same laws, constitutions, orders and ordinances;
and the same fines and amerciaments shall and may, by their officers
and servants from time to time to be appointed for that purpose, levy,
take and have, to the use of the said Governor and Company, and their
successors, without the impediment of us, our heirs or successors, or
any of the officers or ministers of us, our heirs, or successors, and
without any account therefore to us, our heirs or successors, to be
made: All and singular which laws, constitutions, orders, and
ordinances, so as aforesaid to be made, we will to be duly observed
and kept under the pains and penalties therein to be contained; so
always as the said laws, constitutions, orders and ordinances, fines
and amerciaments, be reasonable and not contrary or repugnant, but as
near as may be agreeable to the laws, statutes or customs of this our
realm.

And furthermore, of our ample and abundant grace, certain knowledge
and mere-motion, we have granted, and by these presents, for us, our
heirs and successors, do grant unto the said Governor and Company, and
their successors, that they and their successors, and their factors,
servants and agents, for them and on their behalf, and not otherwise,
shall forever hereafter have, use and enjoy, not only the whole,
entire, and only trade and traffic, and the whole, entire, and only
liberty, use and privilege of trading and trafficking to and from the
territory, limits and places aforesaid, but also the whole and entire
trade and traffic to and from all havens, bays, creeks, rivers, lakes
and seas, into which they shall find entrance or passage by water or
land out of the territories, limits and places aforesaid; and to and
with all the natives and people inhabiting, or which shall inhabit
within the territories, limits and places aforesaid; and to and with
all other nations inhabiting any the coasts adjacent to the said
territories, limits and places which are not already possessed as
aforesaid, or whereof the sole liberty or privilege of trade and
traffic is not granted to any other of our subjects.

And we, of our further Royal favour, and of our more especial grace,
certain knowledge and mere motion, have granted, and by these
presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do grant to the said
Governor and Company, and to their successors, that neither the said
territories, limits and places hereby granted as aforesaid, nor any
part thereof, nor the islands, havens, ports, cities, towns, or places
thereof or therein contained, shall be visited, frequented or haunted
by any of the subjects of us, our heirs or successors, contrary to the
true meaning of these presents, and by virtue of our prerogative
royal, which we will not have in that behalf argued or brought into
question: We straightly charge, command and prohibit for us, our heirs
and successors, all the subjects of us, our heirs and successors, of
what degree or quality soever they be, that none of them, directly or
indirectly do visit, haunt, frequent, or trade, traffic, or adventure,
by way of merchandise, into or from any of the said territories,
limits, or places hereby granted, or any or either of them, other than
the said Governor and Company, and such particular persons as now be
or hereafter shall be of that Company, their agents, factors and
assigns, unless it be by the license and agreement of the said
Governor and Company in writing first had and obtained, under their
common seal, to be granted upon pain that every such person or persons
that shall trade or traffic into or from any of the countries,
territories or limits aforesaid, other than the said Governor and
Company, and their successors, shall incur our indignation, and the
forfeiture and the loss of the goods, merchandises and other things
whatsoever, which so shall be brought into this realm of England, or
any of the dominions of the same, contrary to our said prohibition, or
the purport or true meaning of these presents, or which the said
Governor and Company shall find, take and seize in other places out of
our dominion, where the said Company, their agents, factors or
ministers shall trade, traffic or inhabit by the virtue of these our
letters patent, as also the ship and ships, with the furniture
thereof, wherein such goods, merchandises and other things shall be
brought and found; and one-half of all the said forfeitures to be to
us, our heirs and successors, and the other half thereof we do, by
these presents, clearly and wholly, for us, our heirs and successors,
give and grant unto the said Governor and Company, and their
successors: And further, all and every the said offenders, for their
said contempt, to suffer such other punishment as to us, our heirs and
successors, for so high a contempt, shall seem meet and convenient,
and not be in any wise delivered until they and every of them shall
become bound unto the said Governor for the time being in the sum of
one thousand pounds at the least, at no time then after to trade or
traffic into any of the said places, seas, straits, bays, ports,
havens or territories aforesaid, contrary to our express commandment
in that behalf set down and published: And further, of our more
especial grace, we have condescended and granted, and by these
presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do grant unto the said
Governor and Company, and their successors, that we our heirs and
successors, will not grant liberty, license or power to any person, or
persons whatsoever, contrary to the tenor of these our letters patent,
to trade, traffic or inhabit, unto or upon any of the territories,
limits or places afore specified, contrary to the true meaning of
these presents, without the consent of the said Governor and Company,
or the most part of them: And, of our more abundant grace and favour
of the said Governor and Company, we do hereby declare our will and
pleasure to be, that if it shall so happen that any of the persons
free or to be free of the said Company of Adventurers of England
trading into Hudson's Bay, who shall, before the going forth of any
ship or ships appointed for a voyage or otherwise, promise or agree,
by writing under his or their hands, to adventure any sum or sums of
money towards the furnishing any provision, or maintenance of any
voyage or voyages, set forth or to be set forth, or intended or meant
to be set forth, by the said Governor and Company, or the most part of
them present at any public assembly, commonly called their General
Court, shall not, within the space of twenty days next after warning
given to him or them by the said Governor or Company, or their known
officer or minister, bring in and deliver to the Treasurer or
Treasurers appointed for the Company, such sums of money as shall have
been expressed and set down in writing by the said person or persons,
subscribed with the name of the said Adventurer or Adventurers, that
then and at all times after it shall and may be lawful to and for the
said Governor and Company, or the more part of them present, whereof
the said Governor or his Deputy to be one, at any of their General
Courts or general assemblies, to remove and disfranchise him or them,
and every such person and persons at their wills and pleasures, and he
or they so removed and disfranchised, not to be permitted to trade
into the countries, territories, and limits aforesaid, or any part
thereof, nor to have any adventure or stock going or remaining with or
amongst the said Company, without the special license of the said
Governor and Company, or the more part of them present at any General
Court, first had and obtained in that behalf, any thing before in
these presents to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
And our will and pleasure is, and hereby we do also ordain, that it
shall and may be lawful to and for the said Governor and Company, or
the greater part of them, whereof the Governor for the time being or
his Deputy to be one, to admit into and to be of the said Company all
such servants or factors, of or for the said Company, and all such
others as to them or the most part of them present, at any Court held
for the said Company, the Governor or his Deputy being one, shall be
thought fit and agreeable with the orders and ordinances made and to
be made for the government of the said Company: And further, our will
and pleasure is, and by these presents for us, our heirs and
successors, we do grant unto the said Governor and Company, and to
their successors, that it shall and may be lawful in all elections and
by-laws to be made by the General Court of the Adventurers of the said
Company, that every person shall have a number of votes according to
his stock, that is to say, for every hundred pounds by him subscribed
or brought into the present stock, one vote, and that any of those
that have subscribed less than one hundred pounds, may join their
respective sums to make up one hundred pounds, and have one vote
jointly for the same, and not otherwise: And further, of our especial
grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, we do, for us, our heirs
and successors, grant to and with the said Governor and Company of
Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay, that all lands,
islands, territories, plantations, forts, fortifications, factories or
colonies, where the said Company's factories and trade are or shall
be, within any of the ports or places afore limited, shall be
immediately and from henceforth under the power and command of the
said Governor and Company, their successors and assigns; saving the
faith and allegiance due to be performed to us, our heirs and
successors, as aforesaid; and that the said Governor and Company shall
have liberty, full power and authority to appoint and establish
Governors and all other officers to govern them, and that the Governor
and his Council of the several and respective places where the said
Company shall have plantations, forts, factories, colonies or places
of trade within any of the countries, lands, or territories hereby
granted, may have power to judge all persons belonging to the said
Governor and Company, or that shall live under them, in all causes,
whether civil or criminal, according to the laws of the kingdom, and
to execute justice accordingly; and in case any crime or misdemeanor
shall be committed in any of the said Company's plantations, forts,
factories, or places of trade within the limits aforesaid, where
judicature cannot be executed for want of a Governor and Council
there, then in such case it shall and may be lawful for the chief
factor of that place and his Council to transmit the party, together
with the offence, to such other plantations, factory or fort where
there shall be a Governor and Council, where justice may be executed,
or into this Kingdom of England, as shall be thought most convenient,
there to receive such punishment as the nature of his offence shall
deserve: And moreover, our will and pleasure is, and by these
presents, for us, our heirs and successors, we do give and grant unto
the said Governor and Company, and their successors, free liberty and
license, in case they conceive it necessary, to send either ships of
war, men or ammunition into any of their plantations, forts,
factories, or places of trade aforesaid, for the security and defence
of the same, and to choose commanders and officers over them, and to
give them power and authority, by commission under their common seal,
or otherwise, to continue to make peace or war with any prince or
people whatsoever, that are not Christians, in any place where the
said Company shall have any plantations, forts or factories, or
adjacent thereto, and shall be most for the advantage and benefit of
the said Governor and Company and of their trade; and also to right
and recompense themselves upon the goods, estates, or people of those
parts, by whom the said Governor and Company shall sustain any injury,
loss or damage, or upon any other people whatsoever, that shall in any
way, contrary to the intent of these presents, interrupt, wrong or
injure them in their trade, within the said places, territories and
limits granted by this Charter: And that it shall and may be lawful to
and for the said Governor and Company, and their successors from time
to time, and at all times from henceforth, to erect and build such
castles, fortifications, forts, garrisons, colonies or plantations,
towns or villages, in any parts or places within the limits and bounds
granted before in these presents unto the said Governor and Company,
as they in their discretion shall think fit and requisite, and for the
supply of such as shall be needful and convenient to keep and be in
the same, to send out of this kingdom to the said castles, forts,
fortifications, garrisons, colonies, plantations, towns or villages,
all kinds of clothing, provisions or victuals, ammunition and
implements necessary for such purpose, paying the duties and customs
for the same, as also to transport and carry over such number of men
being willing thereunto, or not prohibited, as they shall think fit,
and also to govern them in such legal and reasonable manner as the
said Governor and Company shall think best, and to inflict punishment
for misdemeanors, or impose such fines upon them for breach of their
orders as in these presents are formally expressed: And further, our
will and pleasure is, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and
successors, we do grant unto the said Governor and Company, and to
their successors, full power and lawful authority to seize upon the
persons of all such English, or any other our subjects, which shall
sail into Hudson's Bay, or inhabit in any of the countries, islands or
territories hereby granted to the said Governor and Company, without
their leave and license, and in that behalf first had and obtained, or
that shall contemn and disobey their orders, and send them to England;
and that all and every person and persons, being our subjects, any
ways employed by the said Governor and Company, within any the parts,
places and limits aforesaid, shall be liable unto and suffer such
punishment for any offences by them committed in the parts aforesaid,
as the President and Council for the said Governor and Company there
shall think fit, and the merit of the offence shall require, as
aforesaid; and in case any person or persons being convicted and
sentenced by the President and Council of the said Governor and
Company, in the countries, lands or limits aforesaid, their factors or
agents there, for any offence by them done, shall appeal from the
same, that then and in such case it shall and may be lawful to and for
the said President and Council, factors or agents, to seize upon him
or them, and to carry him or them home prisoners into England, to the
said Governor and Company, there to receive such condign punishment as
his case shall require, and the law of this nation allow of; and for
the better discovery of abuses and injuries to be done unto the said
Governor and Company, or their successors, by any servant by them to
be employed in the said voyages and plantations, it shall and may be
lawful to and for the said Governor and Company, and their respective
President, Chief Agent or Governor in the parts aforesaid, to examine
upon oath all factors, masters, pursers, supercargoes, commanders of
castles, forts, fortifications, plantations or colonies, or other
persons, touching or concerning any matter or thing in which by law or
usage an oath may be administered, so as the said oath, and the matter
therein contained be not repugnant, but agreeable to the laws of this
realm: And we do hereby straightly charge and command all and singular
our Admirals, Vice-Admirals, Justices, Mayors, Sheriffs, Constables,
Bailiffs, and all and singular other our officers, ministers, liegemen
and subjects whatsoever to be aiding, favouring, helping and assisting
to the said Governor and Company, and to their successors, and their
deputies, officers, factors, servants, assigns and ministers, and
every of them, in executing and enjoying the premises, as well on land
as on sea, from time to time, when any of you shall thereunto be
required; any statute, act, ordinance, proviso, proclamation or
restraint heretofore had, made, set forth, ordained or provided, or
any other matter, cause or thing whatsoever to the contrary in anywise
notwithstanding.

In witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent.

Witness ourselves at Winchester, the second day of May, in the
two-and-twentieth year of our reign.

     By Writ of the Privy Seal.

          PIGOTT.




THE ALASKA BOUNDARY LINE.


It has been said that but for the Hudson's Bay Company British
Columbia would not have been preserved to the British Crown. On the
Imperial frontier to the far north and west the Company early
established its posts, and vigorously sought to maintain them against,
first, Russian, and afterwards American, aggression.

  [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF SOUTH-EAST ALASKA
   (_showing points in controversy_).
   (_By permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers of the
   "Atlantic Monthly."_)]

The American purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 included a strip
of the coast (_lisière de côté_) extending from north latitude 54° 40'
to the region of Mt. St. Elias. It was generally understood that this
strip was separated from the British possessions by a mountain range
(then believed to exist) parallel to the coast, as in event of this
range being too remote, by a line parallel to the windings
(sinuosities) of the coast, nowhere greater than ten marine leagues
from the same.

There is nothing to lead one to suppose that the strip of coast was
designed to be continuous from the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude.
The recent great development of the North-West has shown the singular
value of this strip, which the American authorities, ignoring the
exact possessions of the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825, has assumed to
be their territory. Recent American writers have been quick to
perceive the weakness of their case, and one of these, writing in the
_Atlantic Monthly_, uses this language:

"Arbitration is compromise.... Once before a board of arbitration, the
English Government has only to set up and vigorously urge all its
claims, and more that can easily be invented, and _it is all but
absolutely certain_ that although _by tradition and equity_ we should
decline _to yield a foot of what we purchased_ in good faith from
Russia, and which has become doubly valuable to us by settlement and
exploration, our lisière will be promptly broken into fragments, and
with much show of impartiality divided between the two contracting
parties." The italics are mine. Tradition and (the American idea of)
equity are hardly equal to the language of a treaty negotiated so
recently as 1825.[130]

CONVENTION WITH RUSSIA.

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, being
desirous of drawing still closer the ties of good understanding and
friendship which unite them, by means of an agreement which may
settle, upon the basis of reciprocal convenience, different points
connected with the commerce, navigation, and fisheries of their
subjects on the Pacific Ocean, as well as the limits of their
respective possessions on the north-west coast of America, have named
plenipotentiaries to conclude a convention for this purpose, that is
to say--His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Right Hon. Stratford Canning, a member of his said
Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council, etc.; and his Majesty the Emperor
of all the Russias, the Sieur Charles Robert Count de Nesselrode, his
Imperial Majesty's Privy Councillor, a member of the Council of the
Empire, Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs,
etc., and the Sieur Pierre de Poletica, his Imperial Majesty's
Councillor of State, etc.; who, after having communicated to each
other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have
agreed upon and signed the following articles:--

Art. I.--It is agreed that the respective subjects of the high
contracting parties shall not be troubled or molested, in any part of
the ocean commonly called the Pacific Ocean, either in navigating the
same, in fishing therein, or in landing at such parts of the coast as
shall not have been already occupied, in order to trade with the
natives, under the restrictions and conditions specified in the
following articles.

II.--In order to prevent the right of navigating and fishing,
exercised upon the ocean by the subjects of the high contracting
parties, from becoming the pretext for an illicit commerce, it is
agreed that the subjects of his Britannic Majesty shall not land at
any place where there may be a Russian establishment, without the
permission of the governor or commandant; and, on the other hand, that
Russian subjects shall not land, without permission, at any British
establishment on the north-west coast.

III.--The line of demarcation between the possessions of the high
contracting parties, upon the coast of the continent, and the islands
of America to the north-west, shall be drawn in the manner
following:--Commencing from the southernmost point of the island
called Prince of Wales's Island, which point lies in the parallel of
54 degrees, 40 minutes, north latitude, and between the 131st and
133rd degree of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line
shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland Channel,
as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree
of north latitude; from this last-mentioned point the line of
demarcation shall follow the summits of the mountains situated
parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of the
141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian); and, finally,
from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the
141st degree in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall
form the limit between the Russian and British possessions on the
Continent of America to the north-west.

IV.--With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the
preceding article, it is understood:--

1st: That the island called Prince of Wales's Island shall belong
wholly to Russia.

2nd: That wherever the summit of the mountains which extend in a
direction parallel to the coast, from the 56th degree of north
latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west
longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine
leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and
the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, as above-mentioned,
shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast, and
which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom.

V.--It is moreover agreed, that no establishment shall be formed by
either of the two parties within the limits assigned by the two
preceding articles to the possessions of the other; consequently,
British subjects shall not form any establishment either upon the
coast, or upon the border of the continent comprised within the limits
of the Russian possessions as designated in the two preceding
articles; and, in like manner, no establishment shall be formed by
Russian subjects beyond the said limits.

VI.--It is understood that the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, from
whatever quarter they may arrive, whether from the ocean or from the
interior of the continent, shall forever enjoy the right of navigating
freely, and without any hindrance whatever, all the rivers and streams
which in their course towards the Pacific Ocean may cross the line of
demarcation upon the line of coast described in Article III of the
present convention.

VII.--It is also understood, that for the space of ten years from the
signature of the present convention, the vessels of the two powers, or
those belonging to their respective subjects, shall mutually be at
liberty to frequent without any hindrance whatever, all the inland
seas, the gulfs, havens, and creeks on the coast mentioned in Article
III for the purpose of fishing and of trading with the natives.

VIII.--The Port of Sitka, or Novo Archangelsk, shall be open to the
commerce and vessels of British subjects for the space of ten years
from the date of the exchange of the ratification of the present
convention. In the event of an extension of this term of ten years
being granted to any other power, the like extension shall be granted
also to Great Britain.

IX.--The above-mentioned liberty of commerce shall not apply to the
trade of spirituous liquors, in fire-arms or other arms, gunpowder or
other warlike stores; the high contracting parties reciprocally
engaging not to permit the above-mentioned articles to be sold or
delivered in any manner whatever, to the natives of the country.

X.--Every British or Russian vessel navigating the Pacific Ocean,
which may be compelled by storms or by accident to take shelter in the
ports of the respective parties, shall be at liberty to refit therein,
to provide itself with all necessary stores, and to put to sea again,
without paying any other than port and lighthouse dues, which shall be
the same as those paid by national vessels. In case, however, the
master of such vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a
part of his merchandise in order to defray his expenses, he shall
conform himself to the regulations and tariffs of the place where he
may have landed.

XI.--In every case of complaint on account of an infraction of the
articles of the present convention, the civil and military authorities
of the high contracting parties, without previously acting or taking
any forcible measure, shall make an exact and circumstantial report of
the matter to their respective courts, who engage to settle the same
in a friendly manner, and according to the principles of justice.

XII.--The present convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications
shall be exchanged at London, within the space of six weeks, or sooner
if possible.

In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the
same and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at St. Petersburg, the 16th (28th) day of February, in the year
of our Lord, 1825.

     Stratford Canning.
     The Count de Nesselrode.
     Pierre de Poletica.


FOOTNOTE:

[130] T. C. Mendenhall, in _Atlantic Monthly_ for April, 1896.




GOVERNORS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.


     His Highness Prince Rupert                               1670-1683

     H.R.H. James, Duke of York (afterwards King James II.)   1683-1685

     John, Lord Churchill (afterwards Duke of Marlborough)    1685-1691

     Sir Stephen Evance, Kt.                                  1691-1696

     The Rt. Hon. Sir William Trumbull                        1696-1700

     Sir Stephen Evance, Kt.                                  1700-1712

     Sir Bibye Lake, Bart.                                    1712-1743

     Benjamin Pitt                                            1743-1746

     Thomas Knapp                                             1746-1750

     Sir Atwell Lake, Bart.                                   1750-1760

     Sir William Baker, Kt.                                   1760-1770

     Bibye Lake                                               1770-1782

     Samuel Wegg                                              1782-1799

     Sir James Winter Lake, Bart.                             1799-1807

     William Mainwaring                                       1807-1812

     Joseph Berens, Junior                                    1812-1822

     Sir John Henry Pelly, Bart.                              1822-1852

     Andrew Colville                                          1852-1856

     John Shepherd                                            1856-1858

     Henry Hulse Berens                                       1858-1863

     Rt. Hon. Sir Edmund Walker Head, Bart., K.C.B.           1863-1868

     Rt. Hon. The Earl of Kimberley                           1868-1869

     Rt. Hon. Sir Stafford H. Northcote, Bart., M.P. (Earl of
     Iddesleigh)                                              1869-1874

     Rt. Hon. George Joachim Goschen, M.P.                    1874-1880

     Eden Colville                                            1880-1889

     Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G.                1889-




DEPUTY-GOVERNORS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.


     Sir John Robinson, Kt.                 1670-1675

     Sir James Hayes, Kt.                   1675-1685

     The Hon. Sir Edward Dering, Kt.        1685-1691

     Samuel Clarke                          1691-1701

     John Nicholson                         1701-1710

     Thomas Lake                            1710-1711

     Sir Bibye Lake, Bart.                  1711-1712

     Captain John Merry                     1712-1729

     Samuel Jones                           1729-1735

     Benjamin Pitt                          1735-1743

     Thomas Knapp                           1743-1746

     Sir Atwell Lake, Bart.                 1746-1750

     Sir William Baker, Kt.                 1750-1760

     Captain John Merry                     1760-1765

     Bibye Lake                             1765-1770

     Robert Merry                           1770-1774

     Samuel Wegg                            1774-1782

     Sir James Winter Lake, Bart.           1782-1799

     Richard Hulse                          1799-1805

     Nicholas Caesar Corsellis              1805-1806

     Wm. Mainwaring                         1806-1807

     Joseph Berens, Junior                  1807-1812

     John Henry Pelly                       1812-1822

     Nicholas Garry                         1822-1835

     Benjamin Harrison                      1835-1839

     Andrew Colville                        1839-1852

     John Shepherd                          1852-1856

     Henry Hulse Berens                     1856-1858

     Edward Ellice, M.P.                    1858-1863

     Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson, Bart.      1863-1871

     Eden Colville                          1871-1880

     Sir John Rose, Bart., G.C.M.G.         1880-1888

     Sir Donald A. Smith, G.C.M.G.          1888-1889

     The Earl of Lichfield                  1889-1898




INDEX.


     Agricultural and mercantile enterprise, 457

     Alaska Boundary Line, 527

     Albanel, Father, journeys to the north, 69

     Albany, Fort, 149

        "     "    Attack on, 135

        "     "    Capitulation of, 137

        "     "    renamed St. Anne, 142

        "     "    The English regain, 153

        "     "    Attacked by the French, 193

     _Albany_, 212

        "      Fate of the, 292

     Albemarle, Duke of, 42

     Allemand, Pierre, 98

     America purchases Alaska, 488

     Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825, 448

     Argenson, D', 58

     Arlington, Lord, letter to, 34

     Ashburton, Lord, 456

     Assiniboines, The, 222

           "       Radisson and Groseilliers first meet the, 26

     _Astarte_, 321

     Astor, John Jacob, 386

     Astoria--Fort George, 387, 445

     Astronomers at Hudson's Bay, 294

     Athabaska, Fort, 426

     Avagour, Governor M. d', 28


     Back, Captain, 451

     Bad Lake, The robbery at, 359

     Baffin, expedition of, 47

     Bailey, Charles, Governor of Rupert's Land, 70, 178

     Balmerino, Lovat, and Kilmarnock, Lords, 260

     Barillon, Sieur, 141

     Barlow, Capt. George, commanding the _Albany_, 212

       "     Governor of Albany Fort, 193

     Barre, M. de la, 110

      "        "      receives letter from Lewis, 125

      "        "      recalled, 129

     Barrow, Sir John, 284

     Beaver, Varieties of, 238

     Beechy, Captain, 451

     Bellicose instructions from the Company, 258

     Berens, Thomas, 296

     Bering, Capt. Vitus, commanding Russian expedition, 246

     Bering's discoveries, 247

     Bladen, Martin, 203

     Bladen's description of the Commission, 205

     Bois-Brulés, The, 383

     Bolingbroke's letter, 203

     Bonrepas, Sieur, 141

     Boundaries between French and English territory, 216

     Bourbon, Fort, 96

     Bourdon, Jean, 55

     Boyle, Robert, letter to, 43

     _Brazen_, 392

     Bridgar, Arrival of, 92

        "     John, Governor of the new settlement at Port Nelson, 89

        "     taken prisoner by the French, 134

     Bristol, defence of, 37

     Brown, Honorable George, 487

     Browne, Sir Richard, 39

     Butterfield's, Mrs. Mary, letter, 209

     Button, Sir Thomas, pursues Hudson's discoveries, 46

     Button's Bay, 47


     _California_, 264

     Callieres, M. de, memoir, 57

     Canada, Conquest of, 279

       "     exerts pressure on the Company, 490

       "     Jurisdiction Act, 368

     Canada's debt to the Company, 497

     Cardwell, Mr., Colonial Secretary, 487

     Carr, Robert, 33

     Cartwright, George, 33

     Catherine of Braganza, 63

     Cession to Canadian Government, 493

     Charles, Fort, 70

       "      Fort, Jesuit priest at, 77

       "      the First, 36

       "      the Second, 17

       "      the Second, death of, 129

     Charlie's, Prince, stock confiscated, 261

     Charlevoix, quotation from, 55

     Charlton Island, winters at, 47

     Charter, The Royal, 515

     Chechouan River, discovers the, 76

     Chesnaye, M. de la, 84

     Chouart surrenders to Radisson, 120

     _Churchill_, 248

        "         caught in the ice, 138

        "         captured by the French, 139

     Churchill, Lord, succeeds King James as Governor of the
       Company, 139

     Clandestine trade, 283, 297

     Coats, Captain, 283

       "       "     Death by his own hand of, 284

     _Colbore_, 447

     Cole, Captain, 72

     Colbert, M., 52, 228

     Colonial neutrality, Negotiations for, 140

     Coltman, Colonel, 423

     Company's losses by French, 146

     Comportier, Gauthier de, 128

     Convention with Russia, 528

     Cook, Captain, 340

     Corrigal Case, The famous, 369

     Council of Trade, 173

     Couture, M., 28

     Craven, Lord, 43

     Crees, The, 220

     Croix, Sieur de la, 125

     Cumberland House built, 314


     Dablon, Father, 56

     Dallas, A. E., succeeds Simpson as Governor, 473

         "          Governor, issues a circular, 483

     Davis, Captain John, 45

     Duluth's letter to M. de la Barre, 125

     Denonville's letter to Seignely, 149

     Denonville, Marquis de, succeeds M. de la Barre as Governor, 129

         "       plans the capture of Fort Nelson, 150

     Deputation goes to England, 489

     _Dering_, 159

     Diggs, Sir Dudley, 46

     _Discovery_, 212

     Dobbs, Arthur, 248

       "    and the North-West Passage, 263

       "    petition rejected by Parliament, 268

     Dobbs' _Galley_, 264

     Douglas, Fort, attacked, 399

        "     Thomas, Earl of Selkirk, 399

        "     T. M., Governor of Vancouver Island, 465

     Drummond, Sir Gordon, Governor of Canada, 406

     _Dryad_, 448

     Duchesneau, Intendant, 86

          "     protests against English encroachment, 86

     Duffell, 177

     Duluth in the West, 125

       "    builds a fort on Lake Nepigon, 127

     Duqué, commander of _Profound_, 159

     Duquet, Sieur, King's attorney for Quebec, 58


     East India Company, 18

         "        "      transfer of Province of Bombay, 63

     _Eddystone_, 392

     Elgin, Lord, Governor-General of Canada, 462

     Ellice, Edward, 432, 479

     _Engageante_, 321

     England at war with France, 361

     English, departure of, 110

     _Erebus_, 466

     Esquimaux, first sight of the, 45

         "      The, 223

     Expedition to explore the North-West Passage, 212


     Fishery and Fur Company, The, 352

     Fitzgerald, James, 296

     Fletcher, Major, 423

     Fort, construction of the first, 47

     Forts, Building of stone, 280

     Fox, Captain Luke, 47

     France, Joseph la, 239

       "     War with, 257

     Franklin, Expedition of, 449

        "          "          Fate of the, 466

        "      Lieutenant, 427

     French activity, 52

       "    fur trade, 21

       "    and English ships, meeting of, 159

     French attack Fort Prince of Wales--1782, 320

       "    attack York Factory, 324

       "    declare war against England, 191

       "    encroachment on trade, 275

       "    prisoners taken by the _Churchill_, 138

       "    repulsed at Albany Fort, 193

       "    send fourteen ships, 150

       "    Surrender of the Company's ships to the, 143

       "    The, at Michilimackinac, 182

       "    The, capture a Company's ship, 130

     Frobisher, Sir Martin, 45

        "       intercepts Company's Indians, 316

        "       escapes from York Factory, 428

     _Furnace_, 249

     Fur trade, 20

     Furs, first sale of, 61


     General Court held, 62

     George the Fourth, 437

     Ghent, Treaty of, 445

     Gibraltar, Fort, captured, 408

     Gillam, Zachary (Capt. of _Nonsuch_), 33, 43

        "    Benjamin, 98

        "        "     meets his father, 99

     Gladstone, Opposition of Mr., 463

     Godey, Captain, attaché to Lord Preston, 112

     Gorst, Thomas, secretary to Governor Bailey, 72

     Government assistance, 366

     Grant, Cuthbert, 385

     Granville, Lord, 490

     Green, Henry, 46

     Grey, Earl, Letter to, 461

     Grimington, Captain, 153

     Groseilliers (Medard Chouart), 23

         "        Death of first wife, 24

         "        first marriage, 23

         "        first time in English capital, 34

         "        in Boston, 30

         "        second marriage, 24


     _Hampshire_, 159

        "         goes down with nearly all on board, 161

     _Happy Return_ sails for Hudson's Bay, 117

     _Hardi_ goes to the bottom with all on board, 156

     Hawke, Sir Edward, 296

     Hays' Island fort, 104

        "      "      " burned, 108

     Head, Sir Edmund, 485

     Hearne returns to England, 307

        "   blamed for surrendering, 323

     Hearne's expedition of discovery, 300

        "     second expedition, 302

        "     third expedition, 305

     Henry's expedition, 290

     Henry, Prince, 46

     Herault, Mlle. Elizabeth, 24

     Herbert, Sir Edward, Lord-keeper, 39

     Hobart, Lord, 368

     Holder, John, 40

     Holmes, Captain, 41

     Horner, Captain John, discharged, 297

     Horth's, John, meetings at, 62, 80

     _Hudson's Bay_, 159

        "    "       surrendered to the French, 161

     Hudson's Bay Company apply for Vancouver Island, 464

     Hudson's Bay Company, arms of the, 67

     Hudson's Bay Company, List of nations visiting, 81

     Hudson's Bay Company in difficulties, 361

     Hudson's Bay Company obtains a new license, 438

     Hudson's Bay Company, Plan to re-organize, 210

     Hudson's Bay Company seek Act of Parliament to confirm charter
       conferred by Charles II., 147

     Hudson's Bay Company's claims, 196

     Hudson's Bay Company's claims after Treaty of Ryswick, 189

     Hudson's Bay Posts, The, 509, 510, 511, 512.

     Hudson's Bay, The, Governor and Company of Merchants-Adventurers
       charter from the King, 22, 51, 60

     Hudson, Captain Henry, 46

        "      "      "     fate of, 46

     Humes, Edward, captain of the _Merchant of Perpetuana_, 130

     Hyde, Edward, afterwards Lord Chancellor Clarendon, 39


     Iberville, captures two Company's ships, 143

        "       demands surrender of the fort, 164

        "       given the rank of lieutenant in the French Royal
       Navy, 150

        "       goes to France, 152

        "       sails for home in the _Envieux_, 152

        "       sails for Quebec in the _Hampshire_, 140

        "       Sieur d', accompanies de Troyes on his expedition, 131

        "       takes Fort Nelson, 156

        "       treacherous plan, 144

     _Imploy_ to sail in the spring, 65

     Iroquois--English allies, 29

     Ivett, Robert, 46

     Imperial Parliament appoints Select Committee, 469

     Indian treachery, 185

       "    country, 218

     Indians as hunters, 230

       "     Effect of intoxication on the, 229

       "     Intelligence of the, 225

       "     liking for liquor, 228

       "     Superstition of the, 226

     International Financial Association, 478

     Isbister, A. K., 461

         "     Joseph, 258

     Isle a la Crosse, Lake of, 317


     James, Captain, 47

       "    King, applied to for protection, 139

     Jesuits, Relations des, 21, 69

     Joliet, Louis, 53

     Jonquiere, Fort, 244

     Jenyn's, Soame, letter to Pitt, 279


     Ka-chou-touay, 121

     Kamloops, Legend of, 503

     Kas-Kidi-dah, chief of the Nodwayes, 72

     Kilistineaux, makes treaty with the, 48

     Kirke, Sir John, 25

     Kelsey, Henry, recommended for bravery, receives sum of forty
       pounds, 156, 179

       "     voyage, 179

     Knight, Governor, 191

       "     Death of, 293

       "     Letter from the Company to, 212


     L'Anglois, Jean, 58

     Labau, Murder of, 355

     Lack of military system Company's weakness, 491

     Lacombe, Father, 504

     La Couture, Sieur, 56

     "     "     mythical voyage, 57

     Lampson, Mr., 483

     Law, John, 206, 208

     Letters of marque to the Company's ships, 259

     Lewis unwilling to oppose the English, 128

       "   proposes boundaries, 190

     Lincoln, Earl of, 463

     Louisburg, Fall of, 260

     Lyddal, William, to supersede Bailey as Governor, 78


     Mackenzie, Alexander, 329

         "      reaches the Arctic, 336

         "      sets out for the Pacific, 338

         "      Sir Alexander & Co., 349

     Mackenzie's expedition to the Arctic, 333

         "       Sir Alexander, letter, 366

     Maissoneuve (voyage from Rochelle), 23

     Matonabee, 304

     Maverick, Samuel, 33

     Ménard, Réné, 27

     Meuron, Colonel De, 407

       "     De, Regiment of, 407

     Mezy is recalled, 52

     Middleton, Captain Christopher, 248, 264

        "       explores for a north-west passage, 251

        "       has trouble with his men, 252

        "       Lord, 141

        "       returns without discovering the Passage, 253

     Middleton's report, 220

     Migichihilinons, 220

     Milnes, Sir Robert, 368

     _Merchant of Perpetuana_ captured by the French, 130

     Monk, Lord, Governor-General of Canada, 486

     Montreal merchants combine, 328

     Moon, Captain, 142

     Moor, Captain William, 264

     Moose Factory, Capture of, 133

     Moose River fort erected by the French, 73

       "     "   first visit to, 75

       "     "   Bailey at, 76

     Mounslow, Captain, 192

     Mountain House, 504

     Mowat, Trial of, 371

     _Musquash_, 248.


     McClintock, Captain, 466

     McDonnell, Miles, first Governor of the new colony, 379

         "      surrenders, 399

     McDonnell's proclamation, 395

     McDougall, Honorable William, Minister of Crown Lands, 486

     McTavish, Simon, 249

         "       "    Death of, 352

     McTavish, Governor, resigns, 485


     Nadouichiouecs, Wintered with the, 26

     Nekauba, Dablon reaches, 58

     Nelson, Fort, Burning of, 151

       "      "    Erection of, 93, 194

       "      "    evacuated by the French, 202

       "      "    surrendered to the French, 154

       "      "    surrendered to the English, 157

       "      "    surrendered to the French, 166

     Nelson, Port, Fox landed at, 47

     Nepisingues, 219

     Nichols, Richard, 33

     Nodwayes, 47, 71, 219

     _Nonsuch_ anchors in Hudson's Bay, 45

         "     Set sail in the, 34

     _Nonsuch_ weighs anchor, 44

         "     sails with cargo, 48

     Norton, Governor, 250, 265

        "    Death of Governor, 312

     New Amsterdam, into English hands, 20

     New North-West Company, 349

     New Severn Fort captured by the French, 143

     North-West Association formed, 264

     North-West Association, Expedition of the, 264

     North-West Company, 328-330

     North-West Company oppose Selkirk's scheme, 377

     North-West Company partners arrested, 420, 427

     North-West passage discovered, 468

     North-Westers demand evacuation of Fort Douglas, 415


     Oldenburgh, Letter written by, the secretary of the Royal
       Society, 43

     Ontario Boundary Commission, 59

     Oregon question, The, 445

     Ottawas, Make treaty with the, 48

        "     treaty, 459

     _Owner's Love_, 159


     Pacific Scheme, 477

     _Palmier_, 158

     Parliament and the North-West Passage, 263

     Parliamentary enquiry, 269

     _Pelican_, 158

     Pelly, Sir J. H., 461

     Pérouse, Admiral, 321

        "     La, in the Pacific, 344

     Peter the Great, 244

       "    "    "    Death of, 245

     Petition to the Lords of Treasury, 361

     Phipps' letter to the Company, 123

     Phipps, William, new Governor, 118

     Pishapocanoes, 75

     _Poli_, 156

     Policy, The Great Company's, 506

     Pond, Peter, 317

     Pontiac at Detroit, 288

     Pontchartrain, 152

           "        letter to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, 201

     Portman, John, 43, 60

     Preston's, Lord, letter to Rupert, 42

     Preston, Lord, informed of the return of Radisson and
       Groseilliers, 112

     Preston, Lord, induces Radisson to join the English, 116

     Prickett, Habbakuk, 46

     Prettyman, William, 60

     _Profound_, 159

     Pulteney, Daniel, 203


     Radisson and Groseilliers leave Quebec, 111

        "     arrives in London, 122

        "     arrives in Quebec, 85

        "     assisted by the Jesuits, 85

        "     captures Hays' Island fort, 104

        "     captures the _Susan_, 104

        "        "     Fort Nelson, 105

        "     departs for Hudson's Bay, 117

        "     discovers young Gillam, 90

        "     first marriage of, 24

        "     in France, 83

        "     offers his services to the French Navy, 82

        "     overawes the Indians, 109

        "     Pierre, 23, 24, 65

        "     receives pension from the Company, 124

        "     sails from Hudson's Bay, 122

        "     takes John Bridgar, Governor of Fort Nelson,
       prisoner, 106

     Rae, Dr., Expedition of, 466

     Red River claimed by United States, 440

     Red River Settlement threatened Deadlock, 485

     _Reformation_, 38

           "        loss of the, 39

     Remin, Daniel de, Seigneur de Courcelles, 52

     Resolution Isle sighted, 44

     Reward offered for Radisson's capture, 123

     Richmond, Duke of, Governor of Canada, 429

     Riel, Louis, 494

     Robertson, Colin, 386

         "      Governor, taken prisoner, 426

     Robinson, John, Lord Bishop of London, 195

        "      Sir John, 43

     Ross, Captain, 451

     Rupert created Earl of Holdernesse and Duke of Cumberland, 37

       "    Fort, captured by the French, 134

       "    illness of, 43

       "    is sworn a member of the Privy Council, also the Tangier
       Commission; is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; is
       appointed member of the Council of Trade; and also is a
       member of the Royal African Company, 41

       "    second marriage of, 25

       "    sends for Groseilliers, 43

       "    sent to command the Guinny fleet, 41

       "    Prince, 20, 35

       "    Prince, granted charter by King, 50

       "    Prince, is paid a lump sum, 64

     Rupert, Prince, death of, First Governor of Hudson's Bay
       Company, 94

     _Rupert, The Prince_, arrival of, 78

        "      "    "      sails from Gravesend, 51

        "      "    "      to sail in the spring, 64

        "      "    "      stuck in the ice, 96

        "      "    "      wreck of, 102

     Rupert's River, 47

     Russia looks toward the New World, 244

     Russians on the west coast, 347

     Russian-American Fur Company, 348

     Russian claims, 445

     Ryswick, Treaty of, 148, 168, 187


     _Salamandre_, 156

     Sanford, Robert, 175

     Sargeant, Governor, 95, 135, 137

     Saxon, Sir Charles, 429

     _Sceptre_, 321

     Scroggs, John, Captain of the _Whalebone_, 213

     _Shark_, 264

     _Seahorse_ captured by the press-gang, 268

     Seignely, Marquis de, 84

     Selkirk arrives at Fort William, 419

        "    captures       "         421

        "    winters at     "         422

        "    Death of, 432

        "    Lord, arrives in Canada, 406

        "    The Earl of, 371

     Selkirk's immigrants arrive, 380

         "     project, 375

         "     proposal accepted, 378

     Semple, Death of, 413

       "     Robert, 404

     Semple's murderers, Trial of, 431

     _Shaftesbury_, arrival of the, 78

     Sharpe, Mr., Company's solicitor, 269

     Shepherd, Captain, of the _Shaftesbury_, 78

     Ships besieged by peddlers, 65

     Shrewsbury, Duke of, 201

         "       Death of Thomas, 455

         "         "   Sir George, 473

         "       expedition to the northern coast, 453

         "       Thomas, 453

         "       George, Governor-in-Chief of the amalgamated
       Companies, 437, 447

     Smallpox epidemic, 319

     Smith, Cape, 47

       "    Smith, Francis, 264

       "    Donald Alexander, Governor, 496

     South Sea Company, 208, 209, 211

     Spanish claims, 346

        "    Main, The, 38

     Spence, Governor, 267

     Stanion, John, 261

     Stanton, Governor, at Moose Factory, 177

     Stickeen River, 448

     Strange, Lord, 271

     Strathcona, Lord, 496

     Strike of the Company's men, 296

     Strong, William, engaged as secretary to Rupert, 40

     _St. Anne_, 87

         "       destruction of the, 106

     St. Peter, Fort, 241

     St. Simon, Sieur de, 69

     _St. Pierre_, 87

          "        arrives at mouth of St. Lawrence, 110

          "        destruction of the, 106

          "        re-built, 107

     Superior, Lake, 23, 219

         "       "   reaches shore of, 26

     _Susan_ returned to the New England Merchants, 111

     Sutherland, Lord, 141


     Tabiti Indians encountered, 75

     Tadoussac, 86

     Talon, Jean, Intendant, 22, 52, 69

       "    returns to France, 52

       "    writes Colbert, 53

     Tast, Admiral, arrival of, 150

     Thompson, David, 342

     Three Rivers, 24

     Territorial Rights, The surrender of, 487

     _Terror_, 466

     Tionnontates, or the Tobacco Nation, 26

     Toronto merchants petition Legislative Council, 471

     Treaty between Russia and Great Britain, 445

       "    of 1783, 442

       "    of neutrality, 140

       "    with Red River Indians, 425

     Troyes, Chevalier de, 131

       "     Chevalier de, receives commission to drive the English
       from Northern Bay, 131

       "     de, Expedition of, 132

     Turbulent meetings at Hudson's Bay House, 496

     Turner's exploration, 341


     Union of the two Companies, 433

     Upland Indians, 65

     Utrecht, Treaty of, 199


     Valiere, Sieur de, 56

     Vancouver, Fort, 500

     Vancouver Island granted to the Company, 464

     Varennes, Death of, 243

        "      Peter Gauthier de, 150, 240, 241

        "      Sieur de, marries, 241

        "      sets out to explore the West, 241

        "      son reaches the Rockies, 243

     Vaughan, Captain David, commanding the _Discovery_, 212

     Vermilion, Fort, Attack on, 426

     _Violent_, 158


     _Wales, Prince of_, 392

        "    Prince of, 61

        "    Prince of, Fort, built of stone, 281

        "    Prince of, Fort, surrenders to the French, 321

     Walker, Jeremiah, 66

     William, King, declares war against France, 146

        "     Fort, 389, 418

        "     Fort, restored to the North-Westers, 424

        "     of Orange landed at Plymouth, 145

        "     the Third's accession to the throne, 146

     _William and Ann_ wrecked, 447

     Winnipeg, Lake, Meeting at, 232

     _Weesph_, 158

     _Welcome_, 249

     Western Company, The, 183

     West, Rev. Mr., principal chaplain, 437

     Weymouth, Viscount, 296

     _Whalebone_, 213

     Wolseley, Lord, Expedition of, 495


     York, Duke of, 20, 61

       "      "     to succeed Rupert as Governor, 94

       "      "     ascends the throne, 129

       "   Fort, Desperate condition of the French at, 194

       "   Factory, 232

       "      "     surrenders to the French, 324

     Yukon, Fort, 502




       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber's note:

  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

  On page 55, arrét perhaps should be arrêt.
  On page 103, Englishmen perhaps should be Englishman.
  On page 166, Fort Anne perhaps should be Fort St. Anne.
  On page 222, Matonabbee perhaps should be Matonabee.
  On page 242, peace--leaving should perhaps be peace-loving.
  On page 279, Secretary Pitts should perhaps be Secretary Pitt.
  On page 321, and in the Index, Admiral Pérouse should perhaps
  be La Pérouse.
  On page 411, Anglaise perhaps should be Anglais.
  On page 474, unrenumerative should perhaps be unremunerative.
  The book uses both Medard and Médard.
  The book uses both Serigny and Sérigny.