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    No. 434,, July 17, 1858.] THE LEADER. 68...

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    HUDSON'S BAY—AT BAY. Thehe are many absu...

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    New Encounter Of Engla.Nd And America In...

    Company has claimed some vague sort of rights over it ; the Government of Canada lias also claimed , and in . a certain degree exercised governmental rights westward across the whole continent ; and lately the Governor of Vancouver ' s Island has attempted to exercise a practical control— -with about as much efteet as if the Governor of

    Jersey were to preach at naughty boys in France at large . The Hudson ' s Bay Company is about to be told to mind its own business—which is improving ; Canada is too far off to be the seat of government for Oregon . ; and instead ; of placing the continent under the Governor of an island , Oregon is to have a new Governor of its own . The

    man chosen is Sir Alan M'JSab , a lawyer , we believe , in his earlier life , but a commander of militia during the Canadian Rebellion ; a leading man in the . Parliament' of that colony—a sort of military Pjsel , Conservative , active and progressive . The constitution Ave shall examine more in detail when we get the bill ; but meanwhile it is simple , and the thing wanted first is a Government .

    Trom the manner in which the subject has beentouched in certain quarters , it seems to be apprehended that there may be danger of some collision with , our American neighbours . That there will be encroachment of an individual kind is a matter of course ; the colonies of Australia , have been encroaching on each other ; we have encroached on our neighbours , not once but often ; but this is a nuisance to which all border settlements are liable in proportion to their attractiveness . All these facts prove how necessary it is that the Government of T ^ ew Caledonia should be

    strong and energetic enough to keep order in a community so unsettled and so likely to be disorderly ; and the Americans certainly have a right to demand that our Government shall be able to hold its own in that quarter . Beyond that possibility we see no difficulty . That the Republicans will be faithful to the law we may be sure ; and a solid proof of that fidelity was lately given when Mr . Cohjb , of the Customs department at Charleston , re " - fused clearance to a ship on a voyage to import " free emigrants" from Africa : it is against the law , answerecV Mr . Cobb ; and

    that American attempt to revive the slave trade in disguise was checked . It may , indeed , be a question , how far such half-informed arguments as those which were hazarded by officials , or rather ex-officials , in Mr . Hutt ' s debate , will be : calculated to promote good feeling between the United { States and " the old country ; " but we have not much fear , for our present Government is well disposed , and the necessity of keeping friends with America is mado doubly manifest by the new stake winch has been forced upon us in the West .

    Meanwhile , a very interesting question rises in the further distance . One thing which might contribute to a powerful American preponderance would be the new railway to be carried from the older states to California and the Pacific , the first direct trunk-line across the whole continent . But do not the reasons which apply to the Americans apply also to us ? "Will not tl > o commercial means offered , in the value of

    Calefornia , offer themselves to us in New Calidonia ? Undoultedly they will , should tho present calculations bo realized ; and , in that case , tho American trunk-line , so long vainly suggested by Asa "WrrNisY , will have , its parallel in tho trunk-lino from British North America to New Caledonia ; first bringing forward for use an d settlement tho noble territories which lie on the upper waters of the Niagara , and thence down to tho confines of the Republican States .

    No. 434,, July 17, 1858.] The Leader. 68...

    No . 434 ,, July 17 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 685

    Hudson's Bay—At Bay. Thehe Are Many Absu...

    HUDSON'S BAY—AT BAY . Thehe are many absurd , many illegal , many injurious and dishonest things , which a Government with unlimited resources and a large standing naval and military force is perpetually being called upon to do . Interference in the snarling quarrels of petty states ; preservation of highways to places of ¦ imag inary value ; support of alien races , who hate their- supporters and turn round to massacre them at the earliest opportunity ; protection to colonists who object to pay a shilling of taxes towards their own preservation , —these are only some of the duties that are expected from those who undertake in this country to liaudle the reins of government .

    Such being the case , it is scarcely to be wondered at that individual monopolies—combinations of obscure , anonymous , irresponsible , but chartered men , who , under the peaceful exterior and pretence of trade , may be guilty of each and all of the atrocities that always follow in the footsteps of unchecked autocratic power—should ask to be upheld in their illegal , unconstitutional , and profitable iniquity , and protected from the encroachments of hungry dwellers upon the borders of their tempting . geographical position .

    Such a monopoly at the present time is the Hudson s Bay Company , who are working and praying to be upheld , while deputations to the present Prime Minister are working and praying that tliey should be put down . The case against them , is strong and unanswerable , and may be stated in a very few words . They date their origin from the reign of the Merry Monarch ,, who on . the 2 nd of May , 1670 , granted a charter * to eighteen Lords and Commoners , in his-usual .. light and agreeable manner , by which

    lie conferred upon them in perpetuity between two and three millions of square miles of earth , called Prince Rupert's Land , and situated in the heart of British ¦ '/ ' North America . It is nothing very surprising to find , upon examination , that King Charles , m this noble and princely grant , gave away" what he had no Tight * to give , excluded much which the Company : now claims under the charter , and invested thve Company with powers that he did not himself possess .

    In the first place , it is by no means certain that the Crown can make a grant of a whole colony , whatever power it may have to deal with waste lands . In the second place , King Charles did not give to the Company one-tenth of what they claim under the charter , for , although it conferred a right to all " the sole trade and commerce of all those seas , straits , buys , rivers , lakes , creeks , and sounds /* it expressly excepted all territories possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state .

    In the year 1508 , seventy-two years before the date of the English charter , Henry IV . of Prance appointed a Lieutenant-Governor over the countries of "Canada , Hoclielaga , Terre-Neuve , Labrador ., and the river of the great bay of Norrembeguc . " In 1027 , forty-three years before the date of the Hudson ' s Bay Charter , the French King granted to the " Company of New France" the rights of property , lordship , and justice in Canada , and along the coasls to Florida and the Arctic Circle . This Company seems to have traversed the whole country now claimed by the Hudson ' s Bay Com pany under a grant which expressly excludes them from

    it . By the treaty of St . Gcrmain-cn-Layc , in 1 (> 32 , thirty-eight years before the charter , KingChnrles 1 . of England resigned to Louis X 1 . 1 I . of France the sovereignty of Acadin , New France , and Canada ; and it was not until the treaty of Utrecht , in 1714 , forty-four , years after the date of the charter , that nearly the whole of what are now called the Hudson ' s Bay Territories were made over by France ' to England . Tlius , if King Charles II . had a right , to give the Company the whole of America , which j belonged at that Umo to England , he could not give I them what belonged to France , nor did he pretend ' to do so .

    In tho third place , it has been decided by the highest constitutional authorities that the sovereign has no power to grant to any of his subjects fights of exclusive trade and commerce in any part of the British dominions Avilhout un Act of ' Parliament . The King cannot give powers which he docs not himself possess—powers of imposing taxes , making laws , imprisoning British subjects , und seizing their property without the sanction of Parliament . But ull these powers tho Company possess at the present time , including the power of making war und granting peace . So much for the legal title of the Company , tho

    validity of which they have never once ventured to test in an English court of law . With regard to the Company ' s managementtheir beneficial operation upon the country and the natives—and the faithfulness with which , they have adhered even to the not very stringent provisions of their charter , much , may be said against them which they do not seem either very ready or able to

    answer . They have done little or nothing towards the finding a north-west passage ; and then not until they were forced to act , from shame at seeing the energy of Government and private individuals . They have been the cause of more brutal strife and bloodshed in beating off rivals by the aid of lured Indians , stimulated with rum , and rewarded with beads and pocket-combs , than ever took place when the country was in the undisturbed possession of the untutored savage . They have checked commerce in every possible way by arbitrary restrictions , bv

    refusing to produce themselves , and by refusing to allow others to do so . A trade might have been developed in tallow , hides , horns , and wool , and in minerals of various kinds ; and the country is admirably adapted for the growtk of heinp and flax . But the traffic outwards is limited to skins ; inwards to articles for the Company ' s use , or barter with the Indians . They possess the exclusive privilege of import and export in their own vessels ; they will not allow any ships but their own to enter the bav , either to trade , or fish in the waters , where

    whales and seals abound . " No British-subject in Rupert ' s Land , no British , subject in the Indian territories ( a tract of country comprising between three and four millions of square miles , and held by the Company under a license obtained within the last forty years ) , no British subject in Vancouver ' s Island ( an island as large as Scotland , rented , at present , by the Company for five shillings per annum ) can buy or sell furs from or to any body but the all-powerful Gompanv .

    There being no competition , the Company charges its own price for freight . Once every year any British subject , resident , is allowed to import good ' s for his own use , to the value of 101 . AH other imports are subject to an acl valorem duty of 20 per cent . That the Company is averse to colonization is shown from the fact that no settlement lias thriven within its-territories ; not from t ] ie alleged poverty of the soil and the coldness of tile climate , because in the ¦ American territory , 'fifty * miles distant , a more prosperous state of tilings exists , but from the exorbitant price exacted for land , the trade

    restrictions , and the tyrannical regulations of the Company . The Earl of Selkirk ' s settlement of Scotch Highlanders was only founded as a fighting station on the frontier , and , as a matter of course , it dwindled down b y degrees , many colonists going over to the United States , and those who remain being in favour of annexation to Canada . The Company have always represented their climate as one of the most inhospitable uuder the sun . Their own servant , Sir George Simpson , in his examination before the Parliamentary Committee , described much of the country as unfit for the dwelling of man , or agricultural enterprise , and

    snid that no one would live in such inclement regions for a moment who was not well paid for so cloi ug . Unfortunately , however , for Sir George Simpson ' s statement and his credit for veracity , he is the author of n book , published some time before his connexion with the Company , and culled "An Overland Journey Hound the World . " In this work lie states thuL " there is not upon the face of the earth a more favourable situation for the employment of agricultural industry , a more beautiful country , a more fertile soil , with more rich and varied produce , with greater bods of surface coal , extending hundreds of miles , with finer and more

    navigable river and hikes , and with greater natural advantages . " This is really the moat important part of the question against the Company . In princi ple , the Company would lc radically bad if it occupied a sandy desert under the protection and sanction of the British Government . But Governments and individuals are not likely to move , even against ; such gigantic monopolists as the Hudson ' s liay Company , unless something is likely to be got by it . lu this case it seems that reform and |> roiit , may perhaps become exchangeable terms . The favourable testimony of Sir George Simpson is corroborated by another Governor in the employ of the Company , Sir J . 11 . Polly . Much might l > c said upon the way in which the Company have carried out their trust , by exterminating the Indians under arbitrary , unjust , and cruel

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 17, 1858, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17071858/page/13/