, 1857-04-10
The HudSOnS Bay Company

b, Gle from the Ncr York Cowicr aM Euqui
t rcr, in relation to the formation and pres
: cnt position of this Company:
In the year lG6s, small band of ad
ven'urouS voyagcrS, with one Grosselcz, q
: Frenchpan, for their chief in vessel fit,
Ted out by Prince Rupert, of England, as
$ ccndcd from the south side Of IIudSons
= Bay, in British North America, a river
then called the NomiSco, but afterwards
Rupert, and found tract of country ten
, anted by furred animals of great value
They returned to England Their report
was fayorably received, and company
called the lIudSon's Bay Company was i'm,
; mediately formed for the purpose of com
mancing traffic in furs To this Company,
, in 1870. Charles ! l. granted charter of
incorporation, giving to the Company full
possession Of all the territories upon the
countries coasts, and confines of the seas,
bays, lakes rivers, creeks and sounds, 4" that
lie within the entrance Of "Hudsons
Straits" and not previously granted to any
other Of his subjects, or possessed by any
other State. 1t was sweeping charter,
and gave an immense hunting ground to
the Company Settlements were immedi-
ately formed on several rivers, and the Com
pany went to work trading with the In
dian hunters. They prospered The French
government, to which Grosseiez had origi-
nally suggested the idea ofsuch settlements,
but which had turned deaf ear to him,
saw the prospects of the IIndSans Bay
Company, repcnted of their neglect, detacl-
ed Grosselcz from the English service,
founded rival settlement, and henceforth
there was war between the English and
French Companies.
After much rivalry and much bloodshed,
the French Company, called the northwest
Company, and the HudsonS Bay Company,
became united, and have continued so un-
der several charters from the British Gov
ernment, the last one of which expires in
1859. Since the formation of the Company
until the present time, the tract of territory
granted by charter, roughly estimated at
1000, 900 Of square miles, has been and is
now kept as an immense imperial hunting
reserve, the huntsmen being the aborigi-
nal Indians, and the officers Of the Hud-
sons Bay Company the keepers. The
Government has been, and is nearly per.
feet despotism, under which gigantic COM
merciul monopoly shuts out by the trade
Of savages the legitimate demands of the
trade of white men and the advances Of
commercial civilization
Thus standing an anomaly of commerce in
the progressive commercial world around
it, the Hudson's Bay Company, from
G., 1l uI,n &c al,
and from the fact that its presence over
shadows Canada, and is on the soil of the
United States, has attracted the particular
attention of the two latter countries to-
wards it. A year ago, President Pierce,
in his Message, referred to the msunder-
standing existing as to the possessory
rights OF the Company on the soil Of the
United States, and spoke Of the cession Of
its rights reserved to 1t by the Oregon
treaty, as the readicst means Of termina
ting all difficulties We have now accounts
that the Toronto Board Of Trade have also
turned their attention towards the Compa-
ny as it stands in reference to Canada.
On the 4th instant, the Bord held q NEE
ting with view Of afording an opportu-
nifty to certain gentlemen, long residents OF
the Hudson's Bay Territory, to call atten-
ton to the advantages of opening direct
commercial intercourse with that extensive
field Of enterprise. The meeting was well
attended and many interesting statements
were made. 1t was stated that the Hud-
sons Bay Territories comprised Several
vast regions as large as Canada in extent,
aud not inferior to her soil, and in oil the
requisites for forming nation, and it was
coniended that the whole Of that tract Of
country was properly Canada. 1t original
ly was New France or Canada, and was
still Canada, having peen conveyed as
such to England by Treaty in 1903. But
the Hudson's Bay Company now exclusive
, ly occupied it, prohibiting immigration and
agriculture, and almost every attempt to
improve it. 1t was country the produce
of which ought naturally to pass through
, Canada hands. At one time its products
passed through Canada and enriched Mon
treal. This was in the time Of the North
r 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 purchased in Toronto were got,
, perhaps, only ninety miles distant, at
: Penetanguishenc, whence they were sent to
: Lake Huron, and then to HudsOns Bay,
and so to England, Canadian merchants
purchasing them in London and bringing
! them back to Toronto The stockholders
, in the company were amassing great dea
of wealth from the monopoly they usurped
J. Their trade sales in London. in March last
: amounted to 945O,OO0. What their sales
, were elsewhere it was impossible to say
as they were not in the habit Of communi
eating much Information about their affairs
S to the public. The history of the fur trade
n was coeval with the history Of Canada, and
q it only required an acquaintance with it tc
d be satisfied that the company had no titlt
+ to the exclusive rights and privileges they
2 now claimed" 1t was argued, therefore
/ that the Hudson's Bay Territory should b'