Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1911-08-03
FLUNG AWAY LAND
Amazing Grants of Territory to
Royal Favorites.
ALL OF CANADA ONCE A GIFT

]. to Lord Stirling, Who Didn't Know
Enough to Keep 1.-THE Hudson Bay
company's F.mous Present.
America has been freely parceled out
In gifts since Columbus first set eyes
upon the new world. Most Of the Unit
ed States territory has been at some
time or otAer handed over to public
and private companies. New York, for
example, fifty years after it had been
sold for something like $25 was pre-
scented with other lands to the Duke of
York by his brother. the king, and the
name of the city is witness this day
to that transaction. The duke granted
New Jersey to somebody else, and a
few years before the king had carved
out Maryland for Lord Baltimore.
Pennsylvania was given to William
Penn, the Quaker who founded the
state, in payment, 1t is said, of debt
that Charles II. owed PENIS father,
and the same monarch gave both North
and South Carolina to eight London
gentlemen who stayed at home, called
themselves the lords proprietors and
lived on the rents until the people re-
fused to pay any more and George H.
took over the colonies.
The story of Colonel Talbot at the be-
ginning of the last century is one Of
the romances of Canadian history.
The colonel went out in 1893 as an aid
de-camp to the governor, and the
founding of a colony became the ruling
passion of his life. He was given 100,-
600 acres, which grew later to 1900,
on condition that he place a settler on
every 200 acres. Today this territory
Is occupied by some of the most -four
ishing towns in the Dominion, and at
the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign
Colonel Talbot, who was then still liv-
ing, was the recognized chief Of twen-
ty-eight towns, all Of which had been
given to him years before as unoccu-
pied land.
square miles and embracing such
hourishing towns as Georgetown, Char
lottetown and Princetown. was given
away in 1897 to absentee proprietors
and was bought back again on the or
ganization of the Dominion of Cana
da for 100000. The Canadian COM
l,pany, founded in 1926, received a grant
tof 100000 acres. and bought 100000
more at the rate Of half a crown an
acre.
The mention of the Hudson's Bay
company recalls what is probably the
most famous gift Of territory in his
tory. In 1910 Charles II. gave Prince
Rupert by royal charter territory 200
or 300 miles wide around the eastern
and southern shores of Hudson's bay,
in addition to vast empire Of forest
and prairie. "Rupert's Land" as the
territory was called, ultimately stretch
ed across Canada, from the Atlantic
end Of Hudson's strait to the shores
of the Pacific. AS rent for this ter
ritory, covering 100000 square miles.
the company paid to the king each
year "two elks and two black bea-
vers."
Something over forty years ago the
Canadian confederation took over the
company's monopoly for 100000. but
the company retained a twentieth part
of its lands. The original capital Of
the company was f10,500, and in two
centuries its income from furs was
f20,0O0,O00.
But the most amazing gift ever made
since the world began was surely that
made by James /. to Lord Stirling. the
poet, who was then his favorite. On
Sept. 81, 1921, King James, who must
have been extraordinarily deficient in
geography, made Lord Stirling, then
Sir William Alexander, a present Of
the whole of Canada. The gift. which
included Nova Scotia and Newfound-
land, was confirmed by Charles l., and
the poet was so moved by the high
honor that he received that he pub
lished "An Encouragement to Colo
MES" work that attained three edi-
lions. The gift became the subject Of
interesting legal proceedings, and Can
ada once more became the property Of
the crown.
The city Of Liverpool was given
away by William the Conqueror and
again by Henry H., who bestowed it
on 'the keeper of the castle and pris-
on of Lancaster" King John bought
the site from this keeper and founded
the city. Henry III. leased all the
crown revenues and royal customs of
Liverpool to the Earl Of Chester for
f10 year, and the town changed
hands several times between the reigns
Of Henry III. and Charles Stuart.
That unhappy monarch. being in
state of impecuniosity, offered the town
for sale, and it was purchased by some
London merchants, who in 1882 sold
the crown rights for f450. Forty years
afterward the rights were purchased
by the corporation.
Bombay, the earliest settlement OF
the British in India, was SO lightly re-
garded by Charles III. that immediate
ly after its cession to England he sold
It to the East India company for f10
a year.