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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 effect as if t he Governor of Jersey were to preach at naughty boys in Trance 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-Nab , a lawyer , we believe , in his earlier life , but a commander of militia during the Canadian Ilebelliou ; a leading man in the Parliament of that colony—a sort of military Peel ,, Conservative , active and progressive . The' constitution we sball examine more in detail
when we get the bill ; but meanwhile it is simple , and the thing wanted first is a Government . 3 ? rom the manner in which the subject has beentoucbedin eertain 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 New 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 bold its own in that quarter . Beyond that possibility we see no difficultyw That the Republicans will be faithful to the law we maybe sure ; and a solid proof of that
fidelity was lately given when Mr . Coinj , of the Customs department at Charleston , refused clearance to a ship on a voyage to import " free emigrants" from Africa : it is against the law , answered Mr . Couu ; 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 bo calculated to promote good feeling between the United { States and " the old country ; " but we have not much fenr , for our present Government is well disposed , and the necessity of keeping friends with America is made doubly manifest by the new stake which has been forced
upou us m the AVeat . Meanwhile , a vex * y interesting question rises in the further distance . One thing which might contribute to si powerful American , preponderance would bo the new railway to be carried from the older states to California and the Pacific , the first direct trunk-line across the whole continent . ] Jut do not the reasons which apply to the Americans apply also to us ? 'Will not the commercial means ottered , in the value of
Calefornia , offer themselves to us in New Calidonia ? Undoubtedly they will , should tho present calculations bo realized ; and , in that case , tho American trunk-line , so long vainly suggested by Asa Witmby , will have its parallel in the trunk-lino from British North America to New Caledonia ; first bringing forward for use and settlement tho noble t ^ oriea wlli ch lie on the upper waters of the Niagara , and thenco down to the confines of tho . Republican States .
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HUDSON'S BAY—AT BAY . Tiibius are many absurd , many illegal , many inj urious 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 imaginary 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 ,-r-these are only some of the duties that are expected from those * who undertake in
this country to handle 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 bo 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 arc working and praying to be upheld , while deputations to the present Prime Minister arc working and praying that they 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 tho Merry Monarch , who on the 2 nd of May , 1670 , granted a charter to eighteen Lords and Commoners , m his usual light and agreeable mariner , 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 , in this noble and princely grant , gave away what lie had no right to give , excluded much which the Company now claims mider the charter , and invested the Company with powers that lie did not himself possess .
In the hrst > 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 thoso seas , straits , buys , rivers , lakes , creeks , and sounds , " it expressly execpted all territories possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state .
In the year 159 S , seventy-two years before the date of the English charter , Henry IV . of France appointed a Licutemvnt-Govcrnor over the countries of "Canada , Hochelaga , Tcrre-Ncuve , Labrador , and the river of the great buy of Norrcmbegue . " In 1 G 27 , forty-three years before the date of the Hudson ' s Bay Charter , the French King granted to tho " Company ofiNcw IVance" the rights of property , lordship , and justice in Canada , and along the coasts to Florida and the Arctic Circle . This Company seems to have traversed the whole country now claimed by the Hudson ' s Bay Company under a grant which expressly excludes them from
it . iiy the treaty of St . Gcnvmin-cn-Layc , in 1 G 32 , thirty-eight years before the charter , King ; Charles I . of England resigned to Louis X 11 I . of France the sovereignty of Acadia , New France , and Canada ; and it was not until the treaty of Utrecht , in 1711-, forty-four years after the date of the charter , that nearly the whole , of what arc now called the Hudson's Bay Territories were made over by Franco to England . Thus , if King Charles II . had a right to give the Company the whole of America , which belonged at that time to England , he could not givo them what belonged to France , nor did he pretend to do so .
In the third place , it 1 ms been decided by the highest constitutional authorities that the sovereign bus no power to grunt to any of his subjects rights of exclusive tnule and commerce in any part of the British dominions without an Act of' Parliament .. The King cannot give powers which he docs not ; himself possess—powers of imposing tuxes , making laws , imprisoning' British subjects , and seizing their property without the sanction of Parliament . But all these powers the Company possess at the present time , including the power of making ; war and granting peace . So much for tlic legal title of tho Company , the
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 cyen to the not verv 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 hired 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 , by
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 growth of hemp 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 p f import arid export in their own vessels ; they will not allow any ships but their own to enter the bay , 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 . ' tlic 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 Ibut the all-powerful Company . There being no competition , the Company charges its own price for freight . Ouce every year any-British subject , resident , is allowed to import good ' s for his own use , to the value of 30 / . All other
imports are subject to an ad valorem duty of 20 per cent-. That the Company is averse to colonization is shown from the fact that no settlement has thriven within its territories ; not from the alleged poverty of the soil and the coldness of the climate , because in the . American , territory , fifty miles distant , a more prosperous state of things 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 by 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 under 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 . said that no one would live in such inclement regions for a moment who was not well paid for so doing . Unfortunately , however , for Sir George Simpson ' s-statement and his credit for veracity , lie is the author of a book , published some time before
Ins connexion with the Company , and called " An Overland Journey Hound the World . " In this work he states that " 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 beds of surface coal , extending hundreds of miles , with finer and more navigable river and lakes , and with greater natural advantages . " This is really the most important part , of tho question against the Company . In princi p le , the Company would be 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 , oven against such gigantic monopolists as the Hudson ' s Bay Company , unless something' is likely to be got , by it . In this case it seems that reform and profit , may perhaps become exchangeable forms . The favourable testimony of Sir George Simpson is corroborated by another Governor in the employ of the Company , Sir J . II . Polly . Much might be said upon the way in which the Company havo carried out their trust , by exterminating the Indians under arbitrary , unj ust , and cruel
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No . 434 , July 17 , 1858 . j T H E L E A I ) E H . 685
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 17, 1858, page 685, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2251/page/13/
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