, 1858-05-07
OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, FRIDAY, MAY T. 1853

rivalry, and it was only when they found
that neither fraud nor force in Canada, nor
courtly favor, nor parliamentary influence
in England, could succeed in driving the
Northwest Company from their pretended
territories, they offered to compromise their
disputes, and proposed to share with the
Northwest Company of Montreal their
imaginary privileges, in order that all other
adventurers to that country should be ex-
cluded from participation in the spoils
1t was thus that the Hudson's Bay Com
pany bribed the rivals whom they could
not defeat; and the Northwest Company
subscribed to the existence of claims or
rights which they had heretofore defed
and disputed, fortified by the opinions Of
such men as Lord Brougham, Sir Vickery
Gibbs, Sir Arthur Pigot, Mr.. Sparkle,
Mr.. Bearcroft, and others.
Had the Hudson's Bay Company dared
to test the validity Of their charter in u
court Of law, it would have been proclaimed
to the world that every British subject had
right to trade and tra6c, unfettered and
uncontrolled, throughout that country, for
that the royal charter, under which the
Hudson's Bay Company claimed exclusive
privileges there, was illegal, was null and
void.
BY changing the route of transport to
and from the west, the shorter and better
one, via the lakes, became unfrequented,
and its very existence almost forgotten, and
the now united companies traded without
the apprehension Of exciting the rivalry Of
others.
Their trade was kept o secret-z-no one
witnessed the passage Of imports upwards,
nor the productions downwards from hunt
ing grounds, claimed by company ire
Sponsble to any law, or to any country
So secret even now are oil the operations
Of that company, that the furs taken within
ninety miles Of Penetanguishene are trans
ported to Lake Superior, thence to Hud-
sons Bay for shipment to London.
The very productions of our own country
are sold here in Toronto, after having been
purchased at the Hudson's Bay House, in
London, by our merchants.
The very employees Of the Hudson's Bay
Company, who are engaged in the Orkney
Islands at low wages, are taken 10 Lake
Superior via Hudson's Bay, lest these men
should learn that they could engage else
where at higher wages, which they would
do if taken to Lake Superior by the St.
Lawrence route. Within these few years
past, since the mining interests have ayak-
ened attention TO Lake Superior, these men
frequently leave the employment OF the
Hudson's Bay Company; and such acts are
denominated by the compaDy's agents de-
sertion.n 800 80 lsIilAa5 .re .si.l,
In the course of these letters I will take
occasion to call the attention of The public
to acts Of outrage committed by the factors
Of this company upon these men within the
admitted limits Of Canada. s.Ia4.sg -
The men accused Of "desertion" are ar
bitrarily imprisoned, shackIed, and convey
ed to some fort 10 the interior, where they
have no means Of escape, or Of making
known their wrongs to others-even II they
possess the knowledge that there is in that
country power paramount to that Of the
Hudson's Bay Company. iasf
With this Introduction, which Is very far
from being such as the merits Of the subject
require, let me now ask your readers to
take the map Of North America, trace the
lines Of that section Of British North
America styled Canada, containing about
three hundred and fifty thousand square
miles; then compare It with that which is
denominated the territories Of the Hudson's
Bay Company; this portion will be found