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.]