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.