The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 13, 1E69,

examining it in detail, and considering it, clause by
clause, with the utmost possible deliberation. Un-
less the hon. gentleman the member for North War-
wickshire shall previously have consented to with-
draw his proposal, there will be uo need then, as there
otherwise must be, to drive the House, or rather
the Committee, to a division upon the very thres-
hold. Whether it will be constrained to act thus or
not, in any way precipitately and prematurely
and for no conceivable good whatever, rests entirely
at this moment in the hands of Mr. NEWDEGATE.
Supposing that gentleman should give way, the
course, then lying before the Opposition, will be suf-
ficiently clear, straightforward, and comprehensible.
One after another the proposed amendments will be
moved in committee. To what end, is it asked ?
Clearly and obviously to the end—if possible—of
snatching some of the property of the Irish Church
hack out of the rack of the threatened and (as many
are disposed to consider) inevitable absorption, or ap-
propriation to the numerous and carefully defined
purposes of benevolence. Having, probably, in some
few instances, with varying fortunes, run through all
the clauses and all the amendments while it is sitting
in Committee—the House will then, after due prepara-
tion and deliberation, finally divide, on the root-
principle of the whole measure, at the time of the
third reading. After which, the bill will have
to run the gauntlet, through all the prescribed stages,
in the House of Lords. Such, in brief, are the tactics
proposed to themselves by the Conservative or Con-
stitutional party, in the matter of this Bill for the
immediate disestablishment and eventual disendow-
uent of the Irish Church, as hitherto, at least for
some three hundred years, a State institution. Mean-
while, in the arguments set forth by the prin-
cipal organ of all those anywhere setting forth the
opinions of that party, meaning, of course,
in the political article in the new number of the
old Quarterly, it is still resolutely insisted upon that
what has been called, for want of a better phrase,
"levelling up" is the onlypolicy that wouldsatisfy the
claims of justice. " Every statesman of eminence,',
says the reviewer, " from the beginning of this
century down to last year has openly advocated
or secretly approved" this now rejected policy of
supporting the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland
by the State of the United Kingdom. The Quarterly
insists that Mr. Pm inaugurated it, that the Whigs
and Tories alike adopted it and enforced it : and it
goes on to speak of it as, upon the whole,
" The only recognised policy of justice to Ire-
land ; the only remedy for some of its woist
evils." Adding, that "It was condemned on
its merits in the recent debate only by the
avowed destroyers of all Establishments." Mean-
ing by this, of course, such men as Mr. MIALL
or as the right hon. gentleman the President of the
Board of Trade. The argument thus raised, and
thus resolutely avowed by the Conservative
Quarterly, realizes more clearly than ever to poli-
ticians of all classes, and of either side, that there is
really no medium course whatever that could be in
any way reasonably adopted ; that, in other words,
Parliament and the country have to make their choice
at once between the supporting henceforward by the
State of all religions or of no religion whatever, be-
tween the project of levelling up and the policy of
absolute and uncompromising disestablishment.

THE decision of the Hudson's Bay Company to
accept Earl GRANVILLE'S terms for the surrender of
their territory to the Canadian Dominion virtually
settles a most important Imperial question. The
last of the great monopolies which have figured
so largely in our colonial history is trans-
formed into an ordinary trading company.
A vast and fertile region, hitherto kept as a
hunting ground in the interests of a few indi-
viduals will now be oven to colonial enterprise. The
Canadian Dominion, consolidated by the addition of
a terrilu..r ,nnre than two-thirds as large as Europe,
will form one unbroken empue nU.L. Lue
Atlantic to the Pacific. Thenceforth North America
will be virtually divided between Canada and the

United States. And not only is a vexed question of
such great moment now set at rest, but the' company
have secured a bargain which, although concluded
under a protest, can hardly fail to prove a good one.

There can be no doubt that the company has a
claim over the territory which bears its name, but it is
clear that the value of this claim has been greatly over-
rated. The absolute dominion of Rupert's Land was
handed over to the company in virtue of a principle
which has long become obsolete. The original
charter was granted by the exercise of a prerogative
which has long ceased to belong to the Crown. It is
now nearly two centuries since a party of adventurers
trading to Hudson's Bay obtained from CHARLES
11. a charter, granting them " the sole trade and
commerce " of the seas and lands on or near
the coast of the great expanse of water
which has been called after the obscure
navigator who perished on its shores. There
is nothing to be gained by reopening the
vexed question as to the legality of this charter. It
is clear, however, that it will not bear the extensive
construction put upon it by the company. It is
exceedingly questionable how far the right to trade
over the territory means the right to possess it abso-
lutely. It is very doubtful whether this charter
transforms a few individuals into the arbitrary rulers
of a great country. And supposing that it was the
intention of King CHARLES to grant all this power,
it is more than questionable whether this wholesale
alienation of British territory came within the scope
of the royal prerogative. But even granting that it was
within the KING'S power to make over this country to
the Hudson's Bay Company, and that he actually did
transfer it, certain it is that the charter never could
include the vast expanse of the earth's surface over
which the company claims dominion. By no
stretch of the imagination can the monopoly
of commerce on the shores of Hudson's
Bay be made to reach a point 2,000 miles
inland. But to this point have the pretensions
of the company extended. Its fishing and hunting
charter has been construed as a warrant to found
kingdoms and States. The company claims territo-
rial rights over some eight hundred millions of
acres, one section of which, the Fertile Belt, consist-
ing of an unbroken expanse of the finest soil,
watered by important rivers, is as large as the
whole of Great Britain. In the early days of the
company some suspicion of the disparity between
the charter and the pretensions founded upon it seems
to have troubled the adventurers. They attempted
to transform their charter into an Act of Parlia-
ment. They partially succeeded,and an Act was passed,
but its effect was limited to seven years. When it
expired Parliament refused to renew it. Since then
the company was ruled by virtue of the royal decree.
The most eminent lawyers have given their opinion
that the charter will bear only a limited interpreta-
tion. But the corporation hasbeen in no wise daunted.
It has governed with a practically despotic sway ;
the territory which might have supported millions
of the human race has been devoted solely to
enriching a few score shareholders ; and now that the
end has come, the company accepts a fairly good
bargain under protest that it is being plundered.
If the company is not to be complimented upon
an over-good title, the nature of its administration
gives it still less claim to consideration. Against
the present race of shareholders there is
nothing to be said ; but it is matter of
history that the rule of preceding generations was
deplorably bad. Civilisation has been efficiently
cared for in the shape of dividends to the amount of
00 or 70 per cent., but in no other way. The company
discouraged colonisation. The Red River settlers
were harshly treated. The company at times exer-
cised a descreditably despotic authority. The condi-
tions of settlement, according to the colonists, were
• violated, taxes were imposed at the will of the coin-

pany, there was nothing like freedom of trade, for
nothing was brought to or taken away from the Red
River except in a ship belonging to the corporation,
and even property was not secure. But for English and
Canadian charity the settlement would have been
defitroyed by famine. In 1857 Sir GEORGE
SIMPSON, for many years governor of this
private empire, was examined before a com-
mittee of the House of Commons as to the fitness of
the territory for colonisation. He declared that no
part of the company's possessions was fit for cultiva-
tion, repeating the censure when requested by the
amazed committee, who had before them a
book written by Sir GEORGE himself in
which the territory is described as " a
perfect Eden !" This policy of denying the fer-
tility of Rupert's Land was kept up until it
became perfectly useless. The company wanted no
colonists to curtail its gigantic preserves. Moreover,
during a considerable portion of its history the cor-
poration had other employment. The routine
of hunting was varied by the excitement of a
civil war. A rival body of hunters had
commenced operations within the territory, and
against these the Hudson's Bay Company waged
deadly strife. Pitched battles, in one of which
twenty-two persons were killed, ensued. At length
the rival corporations united, and the new comers,
who had fiercely inveighed against the charter, sud-
denly discovered that it was a perfectly legal and
praiseworthy ordinance.

These specimens of the results of the monopoly
principle are no argument for depriving the com-
pany of compensation for invested capital; but it is
clear that the time has arrived for this large district
to be placed under a regular government. The corn-
pany, indeed, freely acknowledges that its rule over an
empire is an anomaly which ought no longer to continue.
But whilst the Canadian Government offered very low
terms, the company wanted a money payment of one
million sterling, and to retain, in addition, their stations.
Lord GRANVILLE has offered a medium compensa-
tion. The company is to have £300,000 in cash, is
'to retain its stations, and will be allotted a percentage
on the sale of lands. The sum is as much as
the land is worth, for though immense in extent,
it is yet an unsettled wilderness. It is not as if the
company were being bought out absolutely. Their
own agent certifies that their trade can be carried on
as well under the altered state of things as under a
monopoly—until, indeed, the remote period when
the whole region becomes inhabited. And it is
clear that the land which the company still
returns will greatly increase in value as the country
becomes colonised. Had the company not ac-
cepted Earl GRANVILLE'S offer, a long law-
suit, the result of which would have been doubtful,
and which would not have prevented the in-
corporation of the territory, would have been
necessary. Decidedly the acceptance of the bargain
is wise ; and it is none the less so because it will be
of great advantage to British colonisation, because
it opens an unbroken field of fertile land to the
settler, and because the Territory will now become a
great State.

01194

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, April 12.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
drove out in the grounds this morning.
Princess Beatrice went out walking.

LATEST INTELL MENU

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, AFil 12.
The result of the elections is largely in favour of
the Government.

A rumour is current that the Marquis de Sada
nanueira intends tendering his resignation, owing
to the bad initission made by the Govornment
telegram communicating to Madrid the refusal of
the ex-King Doni Fernando to accept the Spanish

Crown.

A
HOMEWARD BOUNDG (BIItIAELc,N:RI:)AApirAi l
IL2S.
.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Pera leaves at nine this morning for Southampton,
where she may be looked for about the evening of
the 16th inst.