The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-25 00:00:00

THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.

A Special General Court of the Hudson's Bay Company
was held on Wednesday, to consider the proposal of Lord
Granville, the Colonial Minister, for transferring to Canada
the jurisdiction and territorial rights of the company in
North America. There was a large attendance both of
directors and shareholders, and the proceedings were
marked by considerable excitement.

Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, who occupied the chair, made
a long speech. He entered into a history of the scheme,
and the six years' negotiations which had been carried
on. The charter had been granted to the company upwards
of 200 years since ; during that time the title to the land
had been frequently challenged, and on more than one
occasion had been made the subject of parliamentary
inquiry, and opinions of the legal officers of the Crown
had been obtained upon it. He believed that their title
was as good as any charter could possibly make it, the
only difficulty upon that point being that the limits were
not defined. Six years ago the present company
!vas formed to carry on the business on a new basis :
it was intended to continue the fur trade, and to
adopt a system of colonisation, and a prospectus
was issued containing the nature of the operations
that were to be undertaken. The scheme was submitted
to the Colonial Minister of the day, and it had the
'learty support of every one interested. The carrying on
the fur trade had been sufficiently productive for the
company; but for the purposes of colonisation some form
of government was necessary. When the late
Duke of Newcastle was asked to establish a
form of government there, he positively refused to do so
unless the company would give up all title to the
land. To this proposal the directors replied that they
would sell the land for £1,000,000 ; that offer
was refused. The Government were asked to make an
offer, to which the Duke of Newcastle replied by offering
£250,000 for the whole of the company's land. A counter
proposition was made to Canada of the land for £1,000,000.
In the meantime the Duke of Newcastle died, and then
came a claim from Canada, and Government was asked
to stay their hand in the matter, which they,
taking the part of Canada, consented to do. Ultimately
an Act was passed by the Canadian Government, con-
taining a clause giving to her Majesty's Government the
to transfer Ilupert's Land to the governor; and
in 1867 a resolution was passed and addressed to the
Government, in which they agreed to arrange with
private parties for their rights. Before anything could
be done the Government brought in a bill authorising the
company to surrender, and the Government to accept,
the territory, and the directors were asked to name the
terms upon which they would recommend their share-
holders to agree to the transfer. The terms were sent to
the Duke of Buckingham on Ist December, 1868, and he
objected to them. At that stage of the proceedings Lord
Kimberley ceased to be chairman, and he (Sir Stafford
Northcote) came into office.. The question then was what
should he done. The Duke of Buckingham was asked
to introduce a system of colonisation, but he said, " Go
on and colonise yourselves." Just at time Canada threw
in a long letter of abuse, disputing the title, and refusing
to recognise the rights of the proprietors, but, in order to
save litigation, were willing to give £106,000,
f,.nd, in the event of the company not accept-
ing that offer, threatened to get the Queen to
:ransfer the land to them. Lord Granville had posi-
ively refused to assist in colonising the country, and
stated that if the offer of £300,000 was not accepted, he
should bring the matter before the Privy Council. If the
terms were accepted, the company would still retain their
trading rights, and would be entitled to one-twentieth of
all the land set out. The directors did not consider that
the terms were such as ought to have been offered, but they
considered that if the question of the title should be raised
again,it might possibly lead to endless litigation, and they
thought it only fair that the terms should be looked
at in a business-like way. The £300,000 would produce
an income to the company of £15,000 a year. It
was true that the imports necessary for carrying on
the trade would be taxed ; but such would be the case if
the British Government assumed the sovereignty, and the
company would not, in that case, get the £15,000 a year,
and there would be no one to assist in laying out the roads
and adapting the land for settlement. He urged uponthe
troprietors to accept the offer without any long delay.
long, stormy, and exciting discussion ensued. An
adjournment of the meeting till May 6th was urged, but
the motion was, on the solicitation of the right hon.
chairman, withdrawn. Another resolution was then
moved for adjournment till the 7th of April. This was
carried.

The Keble College is expected to be finished by
Easter, 1870.

TILE NEW BISFIOP FOR NATAL.—It is stated
that in order to be.,present at the c in:Leeration of Bishop
Macrorie, the assisting bishops (Grahamstown, St. He:er.a,
and Orange River Free State) had to travel over an aggre-
gate of 5,500 miles, including to one of them a journey
of 1,800 miles in a waggon over the Karroo in the middle
of an African summer. Almost immediately after the
consecration the assistant bishops left for their distant
homes.

THE ACCIDENT TO THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.—
We are enabled to give an authentic account of the in-
iuries sustained by the Lord Chief Justice from the
accident which befell him on the race-course at Lewes on
the 15th inst. Directly the casualty occurred, Drs.
Morrison and Smythe were sent for ; but, owing to their
absence, the patient was attended by Dr. Rigden, who
found, on examination, that his lotdship's right temple
presented a severe bruise, and that" in falling across the
chain he' had fractured one of the lower ribs on the same
side. There have been, however, no head symptoms,
although the fractured rib still causes pain. He is making
a very good recovery, and it is expected that in a few
days he will be well enough to return to town.—The
Lancet.

DISESTABLISTIMENT AND DISENDOWMENT TN
ALASKA.—The Russian clergy in Alaska, it is reported,
are suffering serious inconvenience from the transfer of
that country to the United States. Under ili Russian
rule the members of the Greek Church were obliged to pay
a tax for the support of their pastors. The United
States authorities, on taking possession, declined
to collect taxes for the Russian clergy and the
people, not being disposed to make any voluntary
offerings, the pastors were left entirely without resources.
They then appealed to the Synod at St. Petersburg, which
decided that they should remain under the protection and
in the pay of the Russian Government as before, and be
subject to the jurisdiction of the Synod. This decision, it
is stated, is objected to by the United States Government,
since it is unwilling to tolerate any " protection " by a
foreign Power of persons residing in its dominions, and the
journals of St. Petersburg are already warmly pleading ix
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