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._