THE PURSE-STRINGS LOOSEN
Traffic in furs was hazardous, but it brought great returns. The
peltry of the north, no less than the gold and silver of the south,
gave impetus to the efforts of those who first settled the western
hemisphere. In expectation of ample profits, the fur ship threaded its
way through the ice-pack of the northern seas, and the trader sent his
canoes by tortuous stream and toilsome portage. In the early days of
the eighteenth century sixteen beaver skins could be obtained from the
Indians for a single musket, and ten skins for a blanket. Profits were
great, and with the margin of gain so enormous, jealousies and quarrels
without number were certain to arise between rival fur traders.
[Illustration: Joseph Frobisher, a partner in the North-West Company.
From the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.]
The right to the fur trade in America had been granted--given away, as
the English of the time thought--by the hand of Charles II of England.
In prodigal fashion Charles {23} conceded, in 1670, a charter, which
conveyed extensive lands, with the privileges of monopoly, to the
'Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay.' But if
the courtiers of the Merry Monarch had any notion that he could thus
exclude all others from the field, their dream was an empty one.
England had an active rival in France, and French traders penetrated
into the region granted to the Hudson's Bay Company. Towards the close
of the seventeenth century Le Moyne d'Iberville was making conquests on
Hudson Bay for the French king, and Greysolon Du Lhut was carrying on
successful trading operations in the vicinity of Lakes Nipigon and
Superior. Even after the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) had given the Hudson
Bay territories to the English, the French-Canadian explorer La
Verendrye entered the forbidden lands, and penetrated to the more
remote west. A new situation arose after the British conquest of
Canada during the Seven Years' War. Plucky independent traders, mostly
of Scottish birth, now began to follow the watercourses which led from
the rapids of Lachine on the St Lawrence to the country beyond Lake
Superior. These men treated with disdain the royal charter of the
Hudson's {24} Bay Company. In 1783 a group of them united to form the
North-West Company, with headquarters at Montreal. The organization
grew in strength and became the most powerful antagonist of the older
company, and the open feud between the two spread through the wide
region from the Great Lakes to the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The Nor'westers, as the partners and servants of the North-West Company
were called, were bold competitors. Their enthusiasm for the conflict
was all the more eager because their trade was regarded as illicit by
their rivals. There was singleness of purpose in their ranks; almost
every man in the service had been tried and proved. All the Montreal
partners of the company had taken the long trip to the Grand Portage, a
transit station at the mouth of the Pigeon river, on the western shore
of Lake Superior. Other partners had wintered on the frozen plains or
in the thick of the forest, tracking the yellow-grey badger, the
pine-marten, and the greedy wolverine. The guides employed by the
company knew every mile of the rivers, and they rarely mistook the most
elusive trail. Its interpreters could converse with the red men like
natives. Even the clerks who looked {25} after the office routine of
the company laboured with zest, for, if they were faithful and
attentive in their work, the time would come when they, too, would be
elected as partners in the great concern. The canoemen were mainly
French-Canadian coureurs de bois, gay voyageurs on lake and stream. In
the veins of many of them flowed the blood of Cree or Iroquois. Though
half barbarous in their mode of life, they had their own devotions. At
the first halting-place on their westward journey, above Lachine, they
were accustomed to enter a little chapel which stood on the bank of the
Ottawa. Here they prayed reverently that 'the good Saint Anne,' the
friend of all canoemen, would guard them on their way to the Grand
Portage. Then they dropped an offering at Saint Anne's shrine, and
pointed their craft against the current. These rovers of the
wilderness were buoyant of heart, and they lightened the weary hours of
their six weeks' journey with blithe songs of love and the river. When
the snow fell and ice closed the river, they would tie their 'husky'
dogs to sledges and travel over the desolate wastes, carrying furs and
provisions.
It was a very different company that traded into Hudson Bay. The
Hudson's Bay {26} Company was launched on its career in a princely
manner, and had tried to cling fast to its time-worn traditions. The
bundles of uncured skins were received from the red men by its servants
with pomp and dignity. At first the Indians had to bring their 'catch'
to the shores of Hudson Bay itself, and here they were made to feel
that it was a privilege to be allowed to trade with the company.
Sometimes they were permitted to pass in their wares only through a
window in the outer part of the fort. A beaver skin was the regular
standard of value, and in return for their skins the savages received
all manner of gaudy trinkets and also useful merchandise, chiefly
knives, hatchets, guns, ammunition, and blankets. But before the end
of the eighteenth century the activity of the Nor'westers had forced
the Hudson's Bay Company out of its aristocratic slothfulness. The
savages were now sought out in their prairie homes, and the company
began to set up trading-posts in the interior, all the way from Rainy
Lake to Edmonton House on the North Saskatchewan.
Such was the situation of affairs in the fur-bearing country when the
Earl of Selkirk had his vision of a rich prairie home for the {27}
desolate Highlanders. Though he had not himself visited the Far West,
he had some conception of the probable outcome of the fierce rivalry
between the two great fur companies in North America. He foresaw that,
sooner or later, if his scheme of planting a colony in the interior was
to prosper, he must ally himself with one or the other of these two
factions of traders.
We may gain a knowledge of Lord Selkirk's ideas at this time from his
own writings and public utterances. In 1805 he issued a work on the
Highlands of Scotland, which Sir Walter Scott praised for its
'precision and accuracy,' and which expressed the significant sentiment
that the government should adopt a policy that would keep the
Highlanders within the British Empire. In 1806, when he had been
chosen as one of the sixteen representative peers from Scotland, he
delivered a speech in the House of Lords upon the subject of national
defence, and his views were afterwards stated more fully in a book.
With telling logic he argued for the need of a local militia, rather
than a volunteer force, as the best protection for England in a moment
of peril. The tenor of this and Selkirk's other writings would
indicate the staunchness of {28} his patriotism. In his efforts at
colonization his desire was to keep Britain's sons from emigrating to
an alien shore.
'Now, it is our duty to befriend this people,' he affirmed, in writing
of the Highlanders. 'Let us direct their emigration; let them be led
abroad to new possessions.' Selkirk states plainly his reason. 'Give
them homes under our own flag,' is his entreaty, 'and they will
strengthen the empire.'
In 1807 Selkirk was chosen as lord-lieutenant of the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright, and in the same year took place his marriage with Jean
Wedderburn-Colvile, the only daughter of James Wedderburn-Colvile of
Ochiltree. One year later he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, a
distinction conferred only upon intellectual workers whose labours have
increased the world's stock of knowledge.
After some shrewd thinking Lord Selkirk decided to throw in his lot
with the Hudson's Bay Company. Why he did this will subsequently
appear. At first, one might have judged the step unwise. The
financiers of London believed that the company was drifting into deep
water. When the books were made up for 1808, there were no funds
available for dividends, and bankruptcy seemed {29} inevitable. Any
one who owned a share of Hudson's Bay stock found that it had not
earned him a sixpence during that year. The company's business was
being cut down by the operations of its aggressive rival. The chief
cause, however, of the company's financial plight was not the trade war
in America, but the European war, which had dealt a heavy blow to
British commerce. Napoleon had found himself unable to land his army
in England, but he had other means of striking. In 1806 he issued the
famous Berlin Decree, declaring that no other country should trade with
his greatest enemy. Dealers had been wont to come every year to London
from Germany, France, and Russia, in order to purchase the fine skins
which the Hudson's Bay Company could supply. Now that this trade was
lost to the company, the profits disappeared. For three seasons bale
after bale of unsold peltry had been stacked to the rafters of the
London warehouse.
The Earl of Selkirk was a practical man; and, seeing the plight of the
Hudson's Bay Company, he was tempted to take advantage of the situation
to further his plans of emigration. Like a genuine lord of Galloway,
however, he proceeded with extreme caution. His {30} initial move was
to get the best possible legal advice regarding the validity of the
company's royal charter. Five of the foremost lawyers in the land were
asked for their opinion upon this matter. Chief of those who were
approached was Sir Samuel Romilly, the friend of Bentham and of
Mirabeau. The other four were George Holroyd and James Scarlet, both
distinguished pleaders, and William Cruise and John Bell. The finding
of these lawyers put the question out of doubt. The charter, they
said, was flawless. Of all the lands which were drained by the many
rivers running into Hudson Bay, the company was the sole proprietor.
Within these limits it could appoint sheriffs and bring law-breakers to
trial. Besides, there was nothing to prevent it from granting to any
one in fee-simple tracts of land in its vast domain.
Having satisfied himself that the charter of 1670 was legally
unassailable, the earl was now ready for his subsequent line of action.
He had resolved to get a foothold in the company itself. To effect
this object he brought his own capital into play, and sought at the
same time the aid of his wife's relatives, the Wedderburn-Colviles, and
of other personal friends. Shares in the company had depreciated in
value, and the owners, in many {31} cases, were jubilant at the chance
of getting them off their hands. Selkirk and his friends did not stop
buying until they had acquired about one-third of the company's total
stock.
In the meantime the Nor'westers scented trouble ahead. As soon as Lord
Selkirk had completed his purchase of Hudson's Bay stock, he began to
make overtures to the company's shareholders to be allowed to plant a
colony in the territories assigned to them by their royal charter. To
the Nor'westers this proposition was anathema. They argued that if a
permanent settlement was established in the fur country, the
fur-bearing animals would be driven out, and their trade ruined. Their
alarm grew apace. In May 1811 a general court of the Hudson's Bay
Company, which had been adjourned, was on the point of reassembling.
The London agents of the North-West Company decided to act at once.
Forty-eight hours before the general court opened three of their number
bought up a quantity of Hudson's Bay stock. One of these purchasers
was the redoubtable explorer, Sir Alexander Mackenzie.
Straightway there ensued one of the liveliest sessions that ever
occurred in a general court of the Hudson's Bay Company. The {32}
Nor'westers, who now had a right to voice their opinions, fumed and
haggled. Other share holders flared into vigorous protest as the Earl
of Selkirk's plan was disclosed. In the midst of the clash of
interests, however, the earl's following stated his proposal
succinctly. They said that Selkirk wished to secure a tract of fertile
territory within the borders of Rupert's Land, for purposes of
colonization. Preferably, this should lie in the region of the Red
River, which ran northward towards Hudson Bay. At his own expense
Selkirk would people this tract within a given period, foster the early
efforts of its settlers, and appease the claims of the Indian tribes
that inhabited the territory. He promised, moreover, to help to supply
the Hudson's Bay Company with labourers for its work.
Had Lord Selkirk been present to view the animated throng of merchant
adventurers, he would have foreseen his victory. In his first tilt
with the Nor'westers he was to be successful. The opposition was
strong, but it wore down before the onslaught of his friends. Then
came the show of hands. There was no uncertainty about the vote:
two-thirds of the court had pledged themselves in favour of Lord
Selkirk's proposal.
{33}
By the terms of the grant which the general court made to Selkirk, he
was to receive 116,000 square miles of virgin soil in the locality
which he had selected. The boundaries of this immense area were
carefully fixed. Roughly speaking, it extended from Big Island, in
Lake Winnipeg, to the parting of the Red River from the head-waters of
the Mississippi in the south, and from beyond the forks of the Red and
Assiniboine rivers in the west to the shores of the Lake of the Woods,
and at one point almost to Lake Superior, in the east. If a map is
consulted, it will be seen that one-half of the grant lay in what is
now the province of Manitoba, the other half in the present states of
Minnesota and North Dakota.[1]
A great variety of opinions were expressed in London upon the subject
of this grant. Some wiseacres said that the earl's proposal was as
extravagant as it was visionary. One of Selkirk's acquaintances met
him strolling along Pall Mall, and brought him up short on the street
with the query: 'If you are bent {34} 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?'
The extensive tract which the Hudson's Bay Company had bestowed upon
Lord Selkirk for the nominal sum of ten shillings had made him the
greatest individual land-owner in Christendom. His new possession was
quite as large as the province of Egypt in the days of Caesar Augustus.
But in some other respects Lord Selkirk's heritage was much greater.
The province of Egypt, the granary of Rome, was fertile only along the
banks of the Nile. More than three-fourths of Lord Selkirk's domain,
on the other hand, was highly fertile soil.
[1] It will be understood that the boundary-line between British and
American territory in the North-West was not yet established. What
afterwards became United States soil was at this time claimed by the
Hudson's Bay Company under its charter.
{35}