The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-25 00:00:00

ILUDSOYS BAY Ti

BITORY.

ACTION BY TEIE BOARD OF
( From the Toronto Glose, Dec. 4.)

aADE.

We are happy - Loat the Wang suggested
for opening up the -north-west territory to Canadian
enterprise were started
,7sesterday evening, con-
siderable spirit, et a meeting of tho Baarj of Trade. We
shall refer to the sat ject at length in'day- or two, and
meantime beg to call attention to the Proceedings cf the
meeting. - _

a”:.nludc

A ineating of the 'Board of Trade was held last evening;
specially with the view of affording an opportunity to
certain gentlemen, long residents cf the Hudson's Bay
territory, to cell attention to the advantages of opening
a direct commercial intercourse With tea', extensive field
of enterprise. A cenviderahle number of our leading
citizens were present, showing that the subject is one in
which a very general interest is felt.
W. P. HowLeND, Eeq , in the -absence of the Presi-
dent of the Board, wee called to the chair, and briefly
explained the object of the meeting.
Before this, ho wever, was entered upon, another matter
of some importance to the trading community was dis-
posed of, by a repoert being adopted, fixing the standard
for the four leading qualities of flour. The four samples
fixed upon the standard were ordered to be sealed np
and placed in the hands of the Secretary. It was stated
that the standa.ed now fixed upon was ix accordance with
that established at Montreal.
AL. Manno-sELL, Esq., being then called upon to
address the in eel ins, said he was happy to do so, as one
of those who bad been principally instrumental in bring-
ing the posietien of affairs with respect to the Hudson's
13,ey Compeny prominently before the public. That com-
pany now occupied an immense region of country, from
which hitherto we had been shut out. 1t was a matter
in which every Canadian was interested. Some might
be disposed to look at it chiefly from a commercial point
of view, but every inhabitant of the country had an in-
terest in it in its national aspect. Canada was not now
what she was a few years ago—a petty province. Her
present extraordinary enterprise, and her extending com-
mercial relations everywhere pointed to the future time,
not, perhaps, vary far distant, when she must exert no
inconsiderable influence on the continent of North Ame-
rica. The peculiar facilities we had for internal commu•
nication, and our vast resources for building up a nation-
ality, were such as perhaps no other nation under heaven
possessed, and should induce every Canadian to give to
this subject his beat consideration. Mr. Macdonell
then pointed to a map, belonging to the Hudson's Bay
Company, showing the immense tract of country they
possessed, extending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to
the Pacific. On this map Canada filled but a small
space, containing 350,000 square miles. The Hudson's
Bay territories comprised 4,000,000 of square miles, in.
cluding several vast regions, as large as Canada in extent,
and not inferior to her in soil, and in all the requisites
for forming a nation. He contended that the whole of that
tract of country was properly Canada. It originally was
New France or Canada, and was still Canada, having
been conveyed as such to England by treaty in 1763.
Bat the Hudson's Bay Company now exclusively occu-
pied it, prohibiting immigration and agriculture, and
every attempt to improve it. It was a country, the
products of which ought naturally to pass through our
hands. At one time its products passed through Canada,
and enriched Montreal. This was in the time of
the North-West Company, but on the union of the two
companies the trade was again diverted, and all the
products were made to pass by way of .Hudson's Bay to
England. The very furs we purchased here in Toronto
were got perhaps only 90 miles hence at Penetangui-
' ehene, whence they were sent to Lake Huron, and thence
to Hudson's Bay, and so to England, Canadian merchants
purchasing them in London, and bringing them back to
Toronto. (Hear, hear.) The stockholders in the com-
pany were amassing a great deal of wealth from the
monopoly they usurped. Their trade sales in, London, in
March last, amounted to 450,0001. What their sales
were elsewhere it was impossible to say, as they were not
in the habit of communicating much information about
their affairs to the public. The history of the fur trade
was coeval with the history of Canada, and it only re-
quired an acquaintance with it to be satisfied that the
company bad no title to the exclusive rights and privi-
leges they now claimed. While the country was under
the dominion of France, a French trading company had
certain privileges in the territory which continued till
1763. Charles IL, in 1670, had granted to the Hud-
son's Bay Company the exclusive right to all those lands
within the entrance of Hudson's Bay. That certainly
could not include lands situated 1,500 miles to the
westward. (Hear, hear.) In 1690, knowing that their
title was good for nothing, they petitioned the Imperial
Parliament for a confirmation of their charter. Par-
liament passed an act confirming it for seven years, but
no longer. This act had only been published within
the last few years, and it appeared by that, in point of
fact, the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company expired
in 1697. They lead, in fact, no charter whatever at
this moment, and yet they were monopolising the
whole country. (Hear, hear.) The facilities for
opening up a trade by the St. Lawrence from that
territory were great, and Toronto was perhaps more in-
terested in the matter than any other locality, because
that trade would pass through Toronto, which would
become the mart ;:of the fur trade, instead of London.
With 'Jur improved facilities of communication it would
be much easier to carry on the trade than it was in the
time of the North-West Company. A steamer might
be loaded in Montreal and sent to the head of Lake
Superior. Thence there w ere some portages between
Lake Superior and Lie de P:uie. And then there was
navigation the whole way into the Assiniboine country.
That country was not inferior to Canada, and would yet
be as great and growing a country as ours. It was
capable of producing vast quantities of grain, for which
at present there was no market. The American.; were
at present building a steamer to ran to Lake Winuipeg,
and they would .re boo, extend to the Baskatchewau
Rie,ie The valley of the Saskatchewan contained
500,000 square nii;e3, that of the Assiniboine 50,000
square miles; the one much larger than Canada, the

other cont;ining perhaps, 33 great a quantity of good
agricultural land as Canada. The olject, then, which
he and others Lad in vie.v was to open no this country,,
and claim it as being properly Canada. (Hear, hear.) To
obain this by appeaing to the Government might prove
a slow and uncertain method. Why should not a com-
pany be firmed, Elio tae old North-Western, which con-
against the Hudson's Bty Canipany for years,
and were successful in all their operations for a time,
until they were led into bloodshed, lost money, and
finally united with the Hudson's Bay Company. He
did not intend to Fay much with respect to the nalire of
the territory, there being tho.e present who knew it in-
timately, being natives of it. He would jut ?flake one
or two remarks on it. Vast beds of coal existed in the
valey of the Sasaatchewan. There was there, in fact,
one of the greatest coal fields in the world, and a navig-
able river flowed through it, artirdinc.: every facility for
inland navigation and the employment of eteamers.
Theo the Hudson's Bay itself lay in, the heart of tae
country, presenting, will its Strait?, 3,000 miles of sea-
coast. There was no other country which had such a
nursery for seaman, and it was only 300 miles from Las
Superior. It abounded in whales and fish of every de-
scription. Thies° were a few of the considerations which
might indace the tuer:altile roan of Canada to take up
the gneatioa heartily,
purely pa
bark in
trade sale of t

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her of those

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vaigtit lead many to eat-
'oned-alraady that the last

i's Bay Cameany, at London,
the son of 450.0001. ; and these were
tof the Reeky Mountains. He
saw a statement the other day that $1,400,000 worth
had been sold at Nev York, aiming from United States
and Russian territories. Thia if a direct communica-
tion wore once opened up, would* also pass through
Canada. (Hear, hear.) He believed they would fiud
the whole country ready to combine with any now
company against the Hudson's Bay Company. He
would mention an instance which occurred only in
March last. An Indian chief came to Fort Garrie
with some 300 carts of furs. An emissary, from Pem-
bina on the American side, met him and said, "You
had better come to us." "No," he said, "I will go to
the Fort." There the Hudson's Bay agents disputed with
him about a matter of 10 donna?, and, as usual, treated
him raughly, not knowing he hag'another market. He
took his fors to Pembina, and the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany had lost that man and hundreds of others, while
the Americans were picking up the trade which the
Canadians ought to puosess. The people there were be-
ginning to understand that the rights of the company
were not such as they were claimed to be, and that he
had no absolute right to compel them to trade here or
and it they found others willing to
there as it please!.;
take their furs, they would ga and trade with them. li,
would not be long with the Hudson's Bay Company as
formerly, when they gave deeds of land, with conditions
attached to which no free man should ever have sub
scribed, and when they put in force the most arbitrary
rules against others trading in the territory. If any
man was found trading his furs were taken from him,
and sometimes the articles lie possessed, which he
meant to trade off for furs. All that was now done away
with, and means were provided to these men to trade
with the Americans. As he had said, the company had
no charter, and could not pne'vent any one going in a•id
trading. When the North-West Company there, the
Hudson's Bay Company did not venture to enter a court
of law to try the validity of their charter, but bribed the
other company by offering them a share of the plunder.
He would not detain the meeting longer, as Captain
Kennedy, a native of the country (and who had recently
returned from the search for Sir -John Franklin), was
now to speak, and would be able to give a great deal of
information about the territory and its capabilities.
(Applause.)
Captain KENNEDY said he had been for 25 yea s in
the territory in qaestion, 12 of them during his infa icy,
and the remainder in the service of the Hudson's Bay
Company. The first five years he was in their service
was spent on the Ottawa ; subsequently he was on the
Lalorddor coast, as far as Hudson's Bay, and during the
whole of that period he had correspondence from the
various sections of the country as far as Vancouver's
Island and Mackenzie's River, and that he had become
familiar with every part of the territory, indepeadently
of what he bad seen himself, and from what he had
heard ; and so far as his own observation went, he was
well assured that what Mr. Macdonell had stated was
perfectly correct. Some eight or nine years ago he had
ventured on the then unappreciated subject of the Hud-
son Bay Company's territories, by publishing several
letters in the newspapers of this country, and particu-
larly had addressed two letters to the Governor-General,
Lord Elgin,vinshing to direct the attention of Canadians
to the propriety of their asserting their right to the vast
section of this continent occupied by the company. The
movement then appeared to be premature, a large sec-
tion of the Canadian press having been artfully inveigled
into supporting the other aide. But great progress
has been made since then in railways and public
works, and another aspect. was given to the subject.
Canadians now say that tne comparatively email frag-

fetched for Ski
all from ts© region ea.:,