Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-12-18
HudSOn'S Bay COMPANY.

A hundred and forty years ago, or more,
Charles II chartered the " Hudson's Bay Com
pany," and gave it exclusive privileges of estab-
fishing trading factories on Hudson's Bay and
its tributary rivers. 1t took possession of the
territory, and enjoyed its trade without opposi-
ton till 1857, when a rival company-the
" North American Fur Company of Canada
sprung up. This latter was composed entirely
of Canadians, and was noted for its energy and
enterprise. The jealousies naturally arising
between rivals, led to the most barbarous Bat
ties, and the sacking and burning of each st+E-
ers' posts. In 1921 Parliament interfered and
consolidated them into one, under the title of
the " Hudson's Bay Company" They occupy
a vast country, and their operations are those
Of a vast monopoly. All the British possessions
north of the Canadas to the Arctic Ocean, are
their hunting and trapping grounds, They have
leased for twenty years from 1910, all of Rus
sian America, except the post Of Sitka. Thus
this powerful Company control more than one
ninth of the soil of the globe. Its capitalists
are in England, and its board of managers trans
act their business at the "Hudson's Bay House"
in London. This board buy all the goods and
ship them to this territory, sell the firs and
transact all the affairs of the company except
the actual business of collecting furs in their
territory. The annual value Of their peltries is
about a million of dollars. The nett profit of
the fur trade is immense, The shares of the
Company's stock, which originally cost one nun
dred pounds, are at one hundred per cent. premi-
UNI, and the dividends range from ten per cent.
and upwards, and this too, while they are crea-
ting an immense fund, to be expended in keep
ing other persons out of the trade.
In 1911, the American Pacific Fur Company
of which John Jacob Astor was the prime NOV
er, built Fort Astoria near the mouth of the
Columbia. In 1918, during the last war, this
American Company sold all its establishment in
Oregon 10 the British Company-now the Hud-
sons Bay Company. In the same year, a Brit
ish sloop of war entered the Columbia and for
mally took possession of Fort Astoria, and
changed Its name to Fort George. In 1915, by
the treaty Of Client, England surrendered this
fort to our Government. Then it was, by the
SAME treaty, that British subjects were granted
the a rights of trade and settlement in Ore
gon as belonged to the citizens of this RepuA,
lie, for ten years: In 1927, this stipulation WIS
indefinitely extended, and cannot cease to be in
force till after twelve months notice.
This is the manner in which the Hudson's
Bay Company came into Oregon. The value OF
furs which are annually collected in Oregon by
this Company, is about $4,000 in the Lon
don market. Parliament extended The iurisdic-
ton of the Canadian courts over the country &C.
cupied by these fur-traders, whether it were
" owned or claimed by Great Britain" Under
this act, certain gentlemen of the Fur Company
were a%ppinted Justices, and empowered to en-
terrain prosecutions for minor offences-arrest
and send to Canada criminals Of higher orde.
and to try, render judgement, and grant exc
cution in civil suits, and TO ~imprison debtors in
their forts and lails.
So it is that the trade, and the civil and Grim
inal jurisdiction in Oregon, are held by British
subiects-that American citizens are deprived
by a monopoly of their commercial rightS-that
they are liable to be arrested on their own terri
tory by, officers, of British courts, tried in the
American domain by British Judges, imprisoned
or hung for acts done within the jurisdiction of
our own Republic CteaSldnd Phaiadedhr.
n ~wN NJ ~ uyS =. &C.,