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Les diagrammes sulvants iliustrent la mAthode. ata ilure. 3 2X 12 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T A SKETCH OF THE ^• .^i BRITISH FUR TRADE, &c. ff ^ -M A SKETCH OF THE BRITISH FUR TR^DE IN i^orti^^metrica; WITH OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO THE NORTH'WEST COMPANY OF MONTREAL. BY THE EARL OF SELKIRK. SECOND EDITION, LONDON: PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, OPPOSITE BOND STREET, PICCADILLY. 1816. I '. Piiuted by J. BreH^ll, " Kupcrt Street, Hijaarket, Londsu. 9^+3753 .\ '%,,. \ ADVERTISEMENT. The Author of the following pages has been prevented from paying that degree of attention to the details and arrangement of his subject, which its importance required. But he experienced much interruption in the progress of his work, and could only bestow upon it a divided attention. — He was called away from England to a remote part of the British dominions, for the purpose, not only of defending his own rights of property from threatened infringement, but also to give his personal support to a considerable body of individuals, who, in a great degree, looked up to him for protection, and against whom a train of premeditated and violent aggression has been committed by their fellow- subjects. He has, in consequence, been laboriously and anxiously occupied in obtaining evidence for the purpose of bringing the facts before a court of justice, and in endeavouring personally to effect such measures as might prevent the threatened repetition of the outrage. These circumstances, he is confident, will prove a sufficient excuse with every candid reader for the deficiencies in a Sketch that has been hastened by the wilful misrepresen- tation of others, but which will probably be followed by a work of a more comprehensive description. Incomplete, however, as the present one is, it will be found to con- tain matter well deserving of the earlj' attention of the Public. ♦ i li CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. Remarks on the retpective systems adopted in Canada prior, and subsequent, to the Cession of that Colony to Great Britain.-'-^General View of the Canadian Fur Trade, Origin and Constitution of the North-West Com' pany of Montreal, - ------- page 1 CHAPTER II. Public claims or pretensions of the North-West Company. ^-—'Conduct of the Company as it relates — to their Servants, — to the native Indians, — to private Traders who have come into competition with them, page £0 CHAPTER III. Conduct of the North-West Company towards the Hudson^s Bay Company » Remarks upon the latter Company, '—-Observations upon their Charter, and rights of ju- risdiction,— -"Operation of the Canada Jurisdiction Act,— —Suggestions with respect to the better settlement of various parts of British North America^ page 65 ij . I mmmmmmlmm % SKKTCH or TriB BRITISH FUR TRADE, &(5. ,. CHAPTER I. Remarks on the respective si/stems adopted in Canada prior and subsequent to the Cession of that Colony to Great Britain.— General View of the Canadian Fur Trade,-— Origin and ComtitU' tioH of the North- West Company of Montreal. The commercial benefits which were ex- pected to accrue from the Fur Trade in Canada, formed the principal object in the original settlement of that colony. For a long period that branch of trade furnished the chief employment of the colonists; but of late years the progress of population, and-* the increase of wealth, have given rise to other and more valuable branches of traffic. The Fur Trade, however, still constitutes an B wm I'L It El imporunt branch of Canadian commerce* An inquiry into the principles on which this trade has been conducted may be interesting, in many respects, not only to those who are connected with the, colony, but to all who have turned their attention to the commercial resources, and colonial prosperity, of the British Empire: and the inquiry may be the more important, because the mode in which the Fur Trade is conducted does not appear to be generally understood, or justly appre- ciated, even in Canada. While that province was in the possession of France, the Fur Trade was carried on under a system of exclusive privileges. In each district of country, or nation of Indians, a licence was granted by the governor of the province, assigning to some favoured indivi' duals the privilege of trading within the pre- scribed limits. The persons who obtained these privileges were generally officers of thft army, or others of respectable family connec* tion. Whatever were the motives in which this system originated, there can be no doubt that it contributed, in a very great degree, to the main object of the French government in their transactions with the Indian nations of America: viz, to establish and extend their ''Heal influence. Whoever possessed the exclusive trade of a district was the only pej^s^ri to whom the Indians could apply for such articles as an intercourse with Europeans had introduced among them ; and^ independient of the ordinary transactions of barter, the natives had frequently occasion to solicit favours which they could only expect front the indulgence of the privileged traders. These, were generally men of liberal education; who knew how to promote the views of government; and they had the greater anxiety on this head, as it was well known that if any of them abused their privileges, or otherwise failed in promoting the general objects ex- pected from them, their exclusive rights would be withdrawn. The conduct of the traders was at the same time closely watched by the Missionaries^ whose anxious attention was directed to prevent the abuses which had been found to arise from the sale of spirituous liquors among the savages; an object ia which they appear to have been in general zealously seconded by the Provincial Govern- ments ■ -.■'::'• , : r: ; Thif' system appears to have been wisely adapted to increase the comforts, and improve the character, of the natives; as a proof of" which, we need only compare the present state of the Indians in Canada^ with that in I i; f! It ,! II !: i! which they stood immediately after the con^ qaest of that province by Great Britain, ait which period populousr villages existed in many districts, where at present we meet only two or three wanderirvg families, and these alddicted to the most brutal excesses, and a prey to want and misery. A few years after the conquest of Canada, the former system of traffic with the Indians was laid aside, as inconsistent with the re- ceived principles of freedom of trade ; and, with the exception of one district, no more r^xclusive privileges were granted. Aftef the trade was thrown open to the public, the first adventurers who arrived in the Indian country made very large profits, and this cir- cumstance soon gave rise to a keen com'- ^aercial competition, the result of which, however, was very different from that which would Lave taken place in a civilized country, where the effect of rivalship tends only to core»pel the trader to supply his customers with better goods, and on more reasonable terms. Among the Indians it was found that a profuse supply of spirituous liquors was a shorter and more certain mode of obtaining a preference^ than any difierence in the qua- lity or price of the goods offered for sale. The ungovernable propensity of the Indian* ' 111 ;'g '•f' to intotication is well koown, ani(r u<^' ^f It ■>i^ 'M ,M tigated, or that if they should, there are so many persons to share in the responsibility, that it cannot fall very heavily on himself. In these remote situations, the restraints of law cannot operate as in the midst of a regu- lar society. — When a plaintiff has to travel thousands of miles to find the court from which he is to seek redress, and ^vhen wit- nesses are to be brought from such a distance, at a vast expense, and to the total interrup- tion of their ordinary pursuits, it must be a case of extraordinary importance, which would induce even a wealthy man to encoun- ter the difficulty of obtaining it. Every win- tering partner, therefore, 'must naturally be aware of the extent of his power over indivi- duals who are not rich enough to contend with the whole Association of which he is a member j and if under these circumstances, acts of in- justice and oppression be committed against weaker neighbours, however greatly they are to be regretted, they cannot form a subject of much surprize. -, f ; '■. Thus, from the very nature and organization of the Company, a conclusion may reasonably be drav/n as to the line of condixct which they aicj m;ist likely to pursue. That indeed may be varied in a certain degree by the personal c 18 r ■ M" ••I character of the individuals at the head of the concern; but even supposing that these were men of the most honourable principles, and incapable of countenancing a systematic violation of justice, it would be with the greatest difficulty that they could restrain this tendency in others. If, upon an investiga- tion of factSj we found that these acts were only committed occasionally, and that the individuals guilty of them had been discoun- tenanced, it would be fair to consider the leading partners as inclined to check, rather than to encourage, the irregularities arising from the circumstances in which the winter- ing partners are placed. But, on the other hand, if acts of this description are found to be frequent, and even customary, — if a con- duct of the same nature and tendency be pursued year after year, and in departments situated at a remote distance from each other, — ^if acts of illegal violence are allowed to pass withoi.t any mark of reprobation ; and still more if promotion is given to those who have been guilty of them, can it be doubted that there exists a regular concerted plan of systematic oppression, carried on with the consent and approbation of those who have the chief active direction of the affairs of the ■hi L 4' 19 Company? — and, if so, we may be sure that those who do not concur form a minority who have not the power to oppose any effec- tual check to the unpnncipled conduct of their associate*. m I ■ > i. f CHAPTER II. r » ,,,.., '■)■■■ ■ '.■ ' : ■ • . ■ ' Public claims or pretensions of the North-West Company, Conduct of the Company as it re- lates — to their Servants, — to the native Indians, — to private Traders who have come in comvetition with them. A HE activity and enterprize of the North- West Company have been loudly vaunted. — Every method has been adopted to make it be believed that they, and they only, are capable of carrj^ing on the Fur Trade with success ; — that they have been the means of conferring essential benefits upon the native Indians; and that their efforts have materially contributed to promote the commercial pros- perity of G reat Britain. They have extended the Fur Trade, we are told, into regions pre- viously unexplored, and have thereby opened new and extensive markets for the commer- cial enterprize and manufacturing industry of the kingdom. — On this it may be shortly ob- served, that their whole export of British goods for the supply of these extensive re- gions amounts only to about £30,000 a year. They who assert that this is an important * 4^1 ^^ encouragement to the manufacturing industry of Great Britain must do so with an inten- tion to impose upon the ignorance of others, or must be grossly ignorant themselves of the commercial resources of the empire. Trifling, however, as is the total amount of the trade, when considered in the scale of national ob- jects, it cannot justly be said that even this pittance is wholly owing to the exertions of the North-West Company. With respect to the greater proportion of it, they have only changed the course of the trade, bringing home by the way of Montreal those returns which would otherwise have reached England by a different and more direct channel. Be^- fore the existence of the North-West Com- pany — before the first British trader had penetrated from Canada to the North-West, (as it is technically called) the natives of those regions were supplied with British goods, and their furs came to England, by the way of Hudson's Bay. In proof of this assertion we may .jroduce the narratives of the Canadian adventurers themselves. Sir Alexander M' Kenzie, though very far from being inclined to eulogise the Hudson's Bay Company, bears testimor^y to this fact. In speaking of Mr. Frobisher's expedition in the year 1775, into countries vm i'l previously unexplored by the Canadians, he mentions that at Portage de Trait6, on the banks of the Missinipi, or Churchill River, he met the Indians with their canoes full of valuable furs, on ^heir way to Fort Churchill, (in Hudson's Bay,) and that it was with some difficulty he could induce them to trade with him. The Author omits to add that these Indians had received supplies on credit the year before from the Hudson's Bay Company, on the faith cff their assurance that they would bring down the produce of their winter's hunt to pay their debts ; so that the trade from Canada to this quarter commenced by sti- mulating the natives to an act of fraud. Their reluctance to trade with Mr. Frobisher is to be ascribed to the scruple which they felt to break their engagement ; — a feeling which does honour to their character before they had been corrupted. The innocence and in- tegrity of these Indians, at that time, is illus- trated by what the same Author mentions of Mr. Pond, who wintered a few years after- wards among them. Having collected a greater quantity of furs than he had the means of carrying away with him, he left the surplus in one of his winter huts, and found them there the following season, in the same state in which he had left them. 23 Mr. Pond's expedition to that country is mentioned by Sir Alexander M*Kenzie as the first discovery of Athabasca ; a country, he says, hitherto unknown but from Indian report. Many years, however, before this, a servant of the Hudson's Bay Company had been sent into the interior to invite the Indians of that district to come to trade at Churchill Fort, and Sir Alexander M'Kenzie himself admits that Mr. Pond saw in Athabasca a vast concourse of Knistineaux and Chip- pewayan tribes, who used to carry their furs annually to Churchill. Page xii. xci. It has been said, however, that the system of the Hudson's Bay Company was not cal- culated to supply the wants of the natives in an adequate manner, nor to push the trade to the full extent of which it was capable. The practice of the servants of that Company was to remain at their factories on the coast, to which the natives resorted from the interior to trade, coming down the rivers in spring to dispose of the produce of their winter hunt, and returning in autumn with those supplies of English manufactures which they had received in exchange. When the traders from Canada had penetrated into the interior, and established trading houses in the vicinity of the Indians, the latter were of course glad M 'm\ ft . , ;i,| i 1 'I rl 11 !■ 'ii- 11 hn h.: i'fe! '^4 to be spared the trouble of a long journey, and preferred making their purchases at home. The Hudson's Bay Company were therefore under the necessity of abandoning their an- cient system, and of establishing trading houses in the interior as well as their rivals. These changes may be more congenial to the natural indolence of the Indians, but that they are upon the whole more eligible is much to be doubted. If the old system of the Hudson's Bay Company has been generally i,X)ndemned, it is owing to the subject not having been clearly understood, nor the effects of that system duly appreciated. It is true that the North-West Company, in assuming merit for their own commercial exertions, have accused the FJudson's Bay Company of great negligence in not having established trading houses in the interior at an earlier period. — But there is no solid foundation for this charge. — It is well known that the best season for hunting all the fur-bearing animals is in winter. In summer the fur is universally of inferior quality, and this too is the season when they rear their young. For both these reasons it is desirable that the hunting should be suspended during the sum- mer months, and this was effectually elecured, when all the best hunters, all the young and ii. %b active men of the Indian tribes, were engaged in a distant excursion. There was therefore a material advantage in requiring them to leave their hunting grounds in summer, and come to the factories on the coast for a supply of European goods. While this was the prac- tice, no furs were brought home, but of prime quality : and as the beavers and other valu- able fur-bearing animals were protected from injury during the most critical time of the year, the breed was preserved, and the supply was plentiful. Now that the traders remain constantly in the interior, the Indians are tempted to continue their hunt throughout the year. They are too improvident to ab- stain from killing the breeding animals, or the young brood. The cub is destroyed with the full-grown beaver ; and the natural con- sequence is, that these valuable animals, formerly so numerous, are rapidly approach- ing to the point of complete extermination. Districts in which they once abounded, and from which large supplies were formerly obtained, now produce few or none. To aggravate this evil, the North- West Company have adopted the practice of em- ploying a number of young men, from the Indian villages in Canada, to go up to the various districts in the interior, as hunters, '!^ 1 i 26 m I i ■! 'i!' l'> !,il ri 'i-.' m paying them at a stipulated rate for the furs they obtain. They say that these men are much superior as hunters ; but as they judge the merit of a hunter entirely by the number of furs which he brings in, it is probable that a great part of this apparent superiority depends on these strangers having their whole time at command for hunting, and not having the burthen of providing subsistence for their families. Part of their success may also be owing to the indiscriminate manner in which they extirpate the animals in a country where they have no permanent interest, destroying all without distinction, whether young or old, in season or out of season. The misera- ble natives, overawed by the warlike reputa- tion and power of the strangers, and dreading the more durable resentment of the North- West Company, witness this destruction with- out daring to resist ; but they complain bitterly that their country is thus wasted, as if it were overrun by fire. While this system of destruction is going on, it cannot be doubted that there must, for a time, be an increase in the annual return of furs obtained; but it is not less evident that the commercial wealth of the empire will be proportionably decreased. The public pretensions of the North- West iil i^'. 27 Company to the merit of having extended the Fur Trade are of no recent date ; but to this claim they have lately added others, grounded on their alleged services in the defence of Canada during the late war. — With respect to these claims it is somewhat singular, that the one which appears to be best founded has been least noticed. The public service to which I particularly allude, occurred immediately on the breaking out of the war with America, when it was discovered that the stores of the Indian De- partment were almost empty ; that nothing had been provided for the presents which it was thought necessary to make to the Indians, in order to obtain their co-operation, and that if they were to wait for supplies from England, the season would be lost. In this dilemma the only resource that occurred was to apply to the North- West Company, whose warehouses were amply stored with the usual assortment of goods intended for their trade in the interior. In such circumstances, the generality of merchants might have thought themselves justified in making Government pay an extra price for the accommodation which was required. The leaders of the North -West Company, however, did not I m I! r II ni in fill"! t.l take this course. — They threw open their stores, and desired the superintendents of Indian affairs to take what they pleased, under no other stipulation than that of replacing the goods in kind, on the avrival of the supplies to be sent out by Govern- ment from England. It appears singular, however, that although the Provincial Go- vernment seemed, in some measure, to evince its gratitude for this st^rvice by immediately afterwards appointing the principal partner of the North- West Company a member of the Leijislative and Executive Councils of the Province, it did not take the natural method of giving public thanks to the Com- pany, and making known to the Avorld the important service they had rendered to the colony. The North-West Company have also claimed merit with the public, on the subject of the capture of Michilimackinack ; — an event certainly of as high importance as any that occurred during the pr?„>gress of the late war. It is well known that on the com- mencement of hostilities with America, the regular troops in both the Canadas amounted to a very trifling number; the militia were hardly organized, and the disposition of a 89 great part of them was considered as pro- blematical. The Americans had collected a numerous, and apparently well-appointed army, which was advancing against Upper Canada, as to a sure conquest. The un- daunted boldness and admirable conduct by which General Brock stemmed this torrent, has met the deserved meed of his country's warmest approbation. But in the critical circumstances in which he was placed,— circumstances so difficult that it is matter of astonishment how he was able to extricate himself, — it must be evident that success would have been impossible, if he had been deprived of any material part of his small force. Of that force the Indians formed a very important branch, and contni^uted in the most essential manner to the capture of General Hull. It cannot be doubted that the immense apparent superiority of the Americans must have created feelings of apprehension and doubt in the minds of the Indians, as well as of the white inhabitants of Canada; and if these feelings had led them to hesitate and stand aloof, the pro- bability is that General Brock must have been overwhelmed ; and that the success of the Americans at the outset would have de- 'il U r 111 30 terred the inhabitants of Canada from all further resista-^ce. The boldness and decision with which the Indians came forward may therefore be considered as among the primary causes of the preservation of the Province ; and it is certain that the brilliant success of the British forces at Michilimackinack had a most powerful effect in confirming the con- fidenc ,and securing the attachment, of those among the Indians who had felt any disposi- tion to waver. The importance of that achievement, there- fore, cannot be doubted. It is no less certain that the regular tioops at St. Joseph would have been quite inadequate to the ati'empt, if they had not had ihe co-operation of the Fur Traders, who were fortunately there at the time, with a considerable number of canoe-men in their service, whom they brought forward, and with whom they most gallantly assisted in the atCack. To their spirited conduct the highest credit is therefore justly due for a stroke which in a great measure secured Canada, but Tor v;hich the North- West Company of MonUeal has received unmerited praise. The fact is, they had no share in that enterprize. That blow was effected by persons en^^^ed in the trade to III-: 11 31 the Mississipi and other districts beyond Michilimackinack, and totally unconnected with the North-West Company. Those to whom the honour of this achieve- ment is due have been too much disregarded, and justice requires that the public should be better informed on the subject. Among the individuals who exerted themselves on the occasion with so much spirit and ability, the first place is generally allowed to Mr. Robert Dickson, who, besides his own men. brought forward a strong body of Sioux Indians, whose example had a most important effect in en- couraging the Indians of the neighbourhood. Mr. John Askin took the command of the Ottawa Indians, and Mr. Jacob Franks as- sisted Mr. Dickson with the Sioux. The Canadian voyageurs, or canoe-men, were formed into three companies of volunteers, or militia, of which Mr. Lewis Crawford acted as colonel ; Mr. Toussaint Pothier, as major; Messrs. John Johnson, Charles Erma- tinger, and John Baptist Nolan, as captains ; Joseph Porlier, Paul Lacroix, Joseph Rolette, and Xu"ier Brion, as lieutenants. Mr. Henry Forrest took the command of the Brig Cale- donia, with the assistance of Mr. John Law as his lieutenant : the captain of that vessel being an American, had refused to act ; the H 4ii 4^ 4\ !;l« ri vessel was the property of the North- West Company, and with five of the common sailors, formed the whole of the contribution of that Company to the success of the expe- dition. Nevertheless it was repeatedly stated in the English newspapers, that a small detachment of the lOth Battalion of Royal Veterans, under Captain Roberts, with the aid of the traders and voyageurs in the service of the North-West Company, had captured Miohilimackinack ! The agents and partners of the Company at London could not fail to observe these statements, yet they never took any steps to undeceive the public, or to dis- claim, for those with whom they were con- nected, prai'jes to which others were justly entitled. Another ground on which the North-West Company assumed the n^erit of superior exertion? for the public service in the late war, is to be found in the formation of the Voyageur Corps, by which the public was led to imagine that the Company ht*d, at their own expense, brought forward a body of their servants to be enrolled as volunteers for the defence of the Province ; and it wiis natu- rally supposed, thAt this could not be done without material inconvenience to their own concerns. It may be remarked that in th€ ■I! 33 commercial business of the, North- West Com- pany, a set of canoe-men (or vo^'ageurs), to the number of three or four hundred, ai'e employed every summer in conveying goods between Montreal and Lake Superior. The articles required for the supply of the Cgm- pany's trading posts are carried by these people as far as the rendezvous at the Grand Portage, where they meet the others who have wintered in the interior, and from whom they receive cargoes of furs, to bring down to Montreal. In this voyage, and the incidental services required . the place of rendezvous, the men are employed for four or five months; they are engaged at stipulated wages for the trip, but after the canoes are brought back to Montreal, their contract is completed, and the North- West Company have no more concern with, or authority over them, than thev iifive over any other natives of Canada. It ::> c^ these men, over whom they repre- sentee o^'ir influence to be unbounded, that the Company offered .to raise a corps; and accordingly the Governor-General issued an order to the following purport. " II a plu ** k son Excellence le Gouverneur-G^n^ral, *' d'ordonner k John M'Donell, Ecuyer, '" H'enroUer lea noms de toutes personnes '•'• Jiisidentes dans les Paroisses de La Pointe i i 11 D ft '■ . "IS!! « (« 34 " Claire, &c. &c.; ^ Messrs. A. N. M*Leod, *• et Jaraes Hughes, Ecuyers, d'enrolleF les ** noms des Voyageui's dans les Paroisses de ** St. Ours, &d &c.; d M. William M*Kay, Ecuyer, d'enroller des Voyageurs dans les Paroisses de La Norraye, &g. Sic; k M. " Pierre de Rocheblave, Ecuyer, d'enroller ** les noms des '^ p^^eurs dans les Paroisses " de La Prairie, c &c. ; qui sent actuelle- " ment Voyageurs, ou qui Font 6t6 autrefois, ** et les faire passer k Montreal pour le 1" " d'Oetobre, pour en former un Corps, qui ** sera nomm6 le Corps des Voyageurs, sous " lecommandementde William M*Gillivray, " Ecuyer/' The persons pointed out in this arbitrary manner were compelled to serve, though under the Militia Act no compulsory enrollment was authorised, except of those elected by ballot — The measure was evidently of material advantage to the North- West Company. During the period the men were not employed in the Companjr's service, they received pay from Government.' And when the navigation opened in the spring, they were ready at a moment's call to proceed in their usual service as canoe-raeh to the Company, which was thus saved the necessity of looking out at that season for the requisite servants to be engaged for thie summer trip. Even in II,:; i if:' 3d time of peace, this occasioned »ome trouble and expense; but during the war, when so great a proportion of the peasantry of Canada were occupied in military duties^ the difficulty of finding men for ordinary civil employments was greatly increased. All this, however, was to be avoided by the ingenious inven- tion of the Voyageur Corps. The North- West Company, therefore, are far from bein^ entitled to that praise of superior patriotism and devotion to the public service in the late war,which has been thus assumed bytliem;and although, if the first of the services above alluded to had stood by itself, considerable merit must certainly have been admitted, yet when it is coupled with the advantages arisiug from the formation of the Voyageur's Corps, and other circumstances, we may certainly b^ allowed to doubt whether the unreserved offer of their stores to the Indian Depart- ment at the commencement of the war ought to be set down as an act of public spirit, or as a well-judged speculation* Having thus noticed the claims of that Compaiiy with respect to the public, let us next see what their conduct has been with re^rd to individuals. These may be classed into, — First, their servants in the interior.-w Secondly, the native Indians. — And lastly, Si!i^-i V ,11 111 I S6 |j other private traders who have been engaged in the Fur Trade in the same country with themselves or in their vicinity. With re- spect to the first class, we may begin with the testimony of an enlightened foreigner, of whose impartiality no doubt can be entertained. Count Andreani travelled through America in 1791, and in the course of his tour visited the Grand Portage, where he had an oppor- tunity of learning the mode of conducting af- fairs in the North-West, with more facility than those travellers who receive their information at Montreal. Speaking of the North-West Company at that time, he says, in his Journal, " Comme les employes sont pay^s en mar- " chandises, on comprend par le prodigieux " profit que fait la Compagnie sur leur vente, " combien les salaires lui coCltent peu. Tons " ces employes ach^tent d*elle leurs besoins; " celle-ci tient avec eux un compte ouvert; " et comme tous hivement dans rint6rieur, " etg^n^ralement au-del^ du Lac Winnepeg, " le rum qu'ils boivent, les couvertures et les " draps qu'ils donnent ^ leurs femmes, etc. ** etc. leur reviennent fort cher. Ces employes " sont g6n6ralement libertins, ivrognes, de- " pensiers; et la Compagnie n'en veut que " de cette esp^ce. Telle est la speculation "sur leurs vices, que tout employ6 qui 37 (( ({ i( (( (( ** t^moigne dans ses dispositions Economic et ** sobri6t6, est charg6 des travaux les plus fatiguans, jiisqu'^ ce que par une suite de mauvais traitements, on ait pu le convertir h Tivrognerie et k I'amour des femmes, qui font vendre le rum, les couvertures, et les ornemens. En 1791 il y avoit neuf cents " des employ6s de la Compagnie qui lui " devaient plus que le produit de dix k quinze " ann6es de leurs gages k venir." (Voyages dansl'Am^rique, par la Rochefoucould Lian- court, Vol. ii. p. 225, Paris, An 7.) In corroboration of this statement, we may refer to the accounts (already noticed) which Sir Alexander M*Kenzie has given of the uncontrolled dissipation and licentiousness of those who were employed in carrying on the Fur Trade in the interior. Indeed it is well known in Canada how very few of the voyageurs in the service of the North-West Company ever realise any property, though employed for a long period of years, at wages nominally double or treble the annual rate of wages in the Province. So far indeed from saving money, or bettering their condition in this service, there are many of them who leave their families in great distress, and never remit any part of tlieir wages, for the sup- port of their wives and children. Strangers M i -:^ [ f ■ 1 ■i ■i "IB 38 i 1, m t!)'!| I ;|si ,1 travelling through Lower Canada mu8t be struck with the frequent appearance of beggarly hovels, bespeaking a degree of poverty seldom to be met with in other parts of America, and which seems difficult to be accounted for, in a country where labour is highly paid, and fertile land may be had at a very low price. It will be found on inquiry, that these habitations are usually occupied by the families of voyageurs employed in the North- West, and who seldom or ever remit any thing for their support. And yet the North'West Company claim merit for the encouragement they give to the industrious population of Canada, and boast of the number of men employed by them in the Indian trade as a great public advantage ! The ** speculation upon the vices" of their Hervants is not to be considered as an abuse which may have crept accidentally into the business of the North- West Company. It is an essential part of their system ; and without which the Company could not exist on its present footing. The number of men whom they employ is greater than the profits of the trade could afford, if their wages were to be paid in hard cash. The trade might no doubt be carried on in an economical manner with a smaller number of servants; but this would i!-, 1- ■ 89 be fatal to the interests of the Company in another respect. It will appear in the sequel of these pages, that it is chiefly by means of this excessive number of •men, that they are enabled to maintain a monopoly through- out a vast extent of the most valuable beavc countries. Being therefore under the necessity (as they deem it) of employing a greater number of servants than they can adequately pay, their trade would soon cease, unless they could have recourse to such means for pay- ment of their wages as those described by Count Andreani. The extent to which this system is carried^ and its importance to the interests of the Company, may be judged by a few facts of public notoriety. The number of voyageurs in the service of the North- West Company cannot be less than 2,000. Their nominal wages are from £30 to £60, some as high as £80, or even £100 — the average cannot be less than £40, and is probably higher; so that the sum total of wages must be 80, or 90,000£. The gross return of their trade seldom exceeds £150,000, and when the cost of trading goods, and all the expenses of the concern are taken into consideration, it must be very evident that the Company could never afford, out of this sum, to pay such an i' 8l ^!ii n m 11 I ifMI m m 40 amount of wages. To obviate this difficulty their servants receive goods, the real value of which cannot be accurately known with- out a reference to the books of the Company ; but in the opinion of persons of the best general information, the prime cost of the goods so employed cannot exceed .£10,000 sterling. From one article a judgment may be formed of the rest. Spirits are sold to the servants of the Company in the interior, at the rate of eight dollars per quart, which cost the Company little more than one dollar per gallon at Montreal ; so that when a servant becomes addicted to drinking spirits (no very uncommon case), it is an easy matter to add £\0, or £20, to his nominal wages. It is accordingly considered as an essential point of duty in the master of a trading post, to take care that the men, under his com- mand, shall have as little as possible of their wages to receive in cash at the end of the year. The management of the trade with the Indians is reckoned an easy task, in comparison with the management of the Ca- nadian servants. The methods described by Count Andreani, as used in order to convert the latter to drunkenness and debauchery, are by no means the whole of the resources that are employed for this purpose. When- 41 ever any of their servants begins to indulge in habits of expense, credit is allowed him with unbounded facility, till he is deeply involved in debt to the Company. When this has been accomplished he is in complete bondage ; and no alternative is left him but absolute submission to his employers, or a gaol. He must therefore submit to every imposition, which his superiors may think fit to practise upon him. — It should also be remarked that the object of involving the men in debt to the Company is greatly pro- moted by the custom of calculating by a peculiar currency, (called North-West Cur- rency,) in which money is reckoned at only half the value it bears in Canada ; one shilling being equal to two of the ordinary money of the Province. The men who are engaged at Montreal, have their wages calculated according to the established legal currency, but every article which they re- ceive from the Company in the interior is charged at the North- West Currency. A man is told the price of some article that he wants, and compares it perhaps with the prices at the store in his native village ; but when his account comes to be stated in the Company's books at Montreal, every pound is converted into two. Those who know how 4)2 [I'llii-i w ■ l! : 15 N ■! iittic education falls to the lot of the peasantry in Canada, and how incapable they are in general of any thing like calculation, will not be surprised, that, by this device, they are led on to expenses beyond their means. — It is evident, however, that the North- West Company must act with a considerable de- gree of caution, from the necessity they are under of obtaining continual supplies of new servants from Canada. — It is requisite, there- fore, in order to blind the ignorant and ud- calculating peasantry of that Province, that the system which the Company pursue with respect to their servants in the interior should be in a great measure concealed, and theif conduct accordingly, with regard to that class of individuals, partakes more of cunning than of violent oppression. The case is different with respect to the Indian inhabitants of those countries in which the Fur Trade is carried on. Among them a material distinction is to be observed between different tribes. Those who inhabit the plains of the Saskatchewan, Red River, and other fertile districts, can obtain such. abun- dance of buffaloe and game, that they are seldom in want of provisions. They can associate together in numerous bands, and are of a bold, warlike character, which is not 43 the case with those who inhabit the more sterile parts of the country to the East of Lake Winipic, and also to the North on Churchill River, and in Athabasca. These districts are rocky and full of swamps, well adapted for the habitation of the beaver, but they do not abound in the larger species of game. The subsistence of the Indians there is both scanty and precarious ; their numbers are consequently small, and it is seldom that more than a single family can find means of subsisting at one place. Living in this scat- tered manner, they are timid from a con- sciousness of their own weakness, and dare not resent those insults which could not be safely offered to the Indians of the plains. It is among the natives of these barren dis- tricts that the most valuable furs are collected, and from these stations the North- West Company are most anxious to exclude all competitors. To effect this, the timid cha- racter of the natives affords them a great facility. If any one of these Indians ventures to sell a beaver skin to a trader who is not of the North-West Company, it is a crime for which he is suro to experience the severest vengeance; and the natives are utterly unable either to resist, or to procure redress for any violence which may be thus exercised against Hi 44 till, iii If : them. In those districts of which the North- West Company have, for any length of time, had almost exclusive possession, the dread of their resentment is sufficient to deter the Indians from affording the slightest assistance to any stranger ;~even to converse with him is an offence which they dare not commit in the presence of a servant of that Company. It is not often that the Company think it necessary to advance any excuse to paihate these outrages ; but if circumstances should require a justification, a pretext is alv.ays at hand. The Indian is aiieged to be indebted to the North-West Company, and the furs in question to be due to them in payment of his debt. It is the established custom of the fur traders to supply the Indians with goods on credit, exacting from them a pro- mise to deliver, in return, a stipulated number of beaver skins, or an equivalent in other fuT^, From the improvident character of the Indians, there are few of them, who, on the approach of winter, are not in want of sup- plies, without which they cannot proceed to their hunting grounds :— and, not having the means of making immediate payment, the produce of their winter hunt is anticipated, and pledged to the traders. It may well be iiiiagined, that thu traders incur a very great 4» risk of bad debts ; and this, no doubt, is one cause of the excessive disproportion between the intrinsic value of the goods which are sold to the Indians, and of the furs which p.r45 obtained in exchange. The facility, how- ever, with which the Indians obtain this sort of credit is very pernicious, and nothing would contribute more to their improvement and permanent welfare, than the disconti- nuance of this custom, and the substitution of direct barter. If, however, one set of traders are in the habit of giving credit to the Indians, their competitors cannot refuse to do the same ; and those who, like the traders of the North-West Company, have the superiority of direct force, find it for their interest to keep up the practice, as tc-iding to rivet ihe subjection in whinh they hold the Indians. These traders, acknow- ledging no submission to any njagistrate, ask for no other authority than superior strength to take ihe property of their debtor, and think themselves entitled to add personal correction, if the Indian should hesitate to comply with th- demand. The oppression which arises from this summary mode of proceeding is chiefly felt where there is a competition among different traders. If ' i': ';S . 60 t,I ir !'■ I* M iiii- II il 1^ m was to advance, and proceeded to fell trees across the road, at the portages, and on all the narrow crcnks by which they were to pass. They soon accomplished such a com- plete obstruction, that Mr. Delorme with his small party, found it impossible to open a passage for his loaded canoes. His adventure being thus entirely frustrated, he left his goods, and made his retreat with his men only. On his arrival at Fort William, the trading post of the North- West Company, he found Mr. M'Gillivray, by whose direction these obstructions had been made. To him Delorme presented the keys of the packages which he had left, and remonstrated on the unjustifiable manner in which he had. been treated ; but his appeal was fruitless. Pinding that no redress could otherwise be obtained, Mr. Rousseau brought an action of damages against the Company; but the case did not come to a trial, a compromise having been offered and accepted. The North-West Com- pany agreed to pay for the goods which Delorme had left beyond the Grand Portage, at the invoice price as valued at Montreal. By this, Mr. Rousseau lost all the wages of the men, and other expenses he had incurred in the outfit, but he thought it advisable to ■^ 61 accept the compensation, however inade- quate, rather than trust to the chance of obtaining justice in the courts of law. These cases deserve particular attention, becalise they afford striking proof how dif- ficult it is for those who have only seen the members of the Company who reside at Montreal or London, to form a judgment as to the conduct of the North- West Com- pany in the interior. The outrages alluded to, it should be observed, were not committed by obscure clerks, or by battailleurs, whose acts might be disavowed. Mr. M*Leod, whose language to Hervieu evinced so little decency or respect for the laws of his country, is not only a leading partner of the Company, but also a Justice of the Peace for the Indian Territory! and Mr. Duncan M'Gillivray (since dead), was nephew of the gentleman then at the head of the North- West Company, and was himself the acknowledged agent of the Company, in which capacity he took the lead in all the proceedings at the general meeting of the wintering partners. Mr. Rousseau was the last private merchant who ventured, singly and unsupported, to send goods into the North-West. At an older date, many other respectable individuals of Montreal had been engaged in that trade 1(1 r 62 ■\i: iii- 1^ .; :ii hi 'I in the countries most accesaible from Cunad^. to the North of Lake Superior, and other districts, but which they were forced to aban-^ don, in const^quence of a series of outrages of the same character as those practised against Mr. Rousseau. Some of these gentlemen have quitted the Fur Trade altogetlier, and others have directed their attention to Mi- chilimacinack and the South-West, where the trade has always been more open to free competition. Of these traders, however, few ever at- tempted to stretch into Athabasca, or the remoter Indian countries towards the North- West, Very soon after the formation of the North- West Conipany, it became evident that no unconnected individual could have any chance of success in these distant coun- tries, and that to carry on trade there, in competition with that body, would require a scale of operations a» extensive as theirs,, and an establishment of men capable of contend- ing with them at their own weapons. It was on these principles that the New North- West, or X. Y. Company was formed in the year 1796* This undertaking was powerfully supported in [xiint of capital; and was con- du<3ted by gentlemen of great experience in theindian trade, and far superior in point of 63 talents to most of their antagonists. It was not, however, an easy matter for them at once to form an establishment on so large a scale as that of the Old Company. In addition to the natural difficulties of such an under- taking, they had to contend against every obstruction which their rivals could throw in their way. — Among other obstacles the Old North- West Company not only engaged a much larger number of men than they had ever employed before, but also paid pensions to all tiie experienced voyageurs, who had already retired from their service, on con- dition that they should not enter into the employment of their rivals. From this and other causes, the latter Company were always much inferior in point of numbers at their wintering posts in the Indian country, in consequence of which they experienced from their rivals great violence and oppression. From the remote situation, and the difficulty of tracing evidence with legal precision, in a country altogether destitute of police^ it would have been useless to have attempted to procure redress in the Courts of Law, The cases were therefore never brought judi- cially before the public, and, in consequence of the coalition which has since taken place between the two Companies, it is not now an i. >! |r if t m m ^1/ ^ 64 easy matter to trace out particular facts and circumstances. — ^The injured party and the aggressors are equally desirous of throwing a ,i[ over the atrocities which took place during their quarrel. — Since they have been united, it is no longer for the interest of either, that the public at large should under- stand the mode in which business is conductec^ in the Indian country. If indeed the state of these remote coun- tries could be expected to attract so much of public attention, as tvO become the subject of Parliamentary inquiry, there can be little doubt but that much evidence might yet be collected, as to the proceedings which oc- curred during these disgraceful contests, and that the result would not only illustrate, in a very striking manner, the principles upon which the monopoly was attempted to be maintained, but would also afford full proof of the necessity of Government adopting some effectual measures to prevent the con- tinuance of those illegal proceedings which have so frequently occurred in that distant quarter of the British empire. 1 '^ ril CHAPTER III. Conduct of the North- West Compani/ towards the Hudson's Bay Company.— -Remarks upon the latter Company. — Observations upon their Char- ter and rights of Jurisdiction. — Operation of the Canada Jurisdiction Act. — Suggestions with respect to the better Settlement of various parts of British North America. X ROM the period when the Fur Traders of Montreal came into contact with the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company in the interior, they evinced towards them the utmost hostility. In addition to the advantages they possessed from their general superiority of numbers, they usually employed, for their pur- poses, men of the most abandoned characters, who, as Sir Alexander M*Kenzie expresses it, •' considered the command of their em- ** ployer as binding on them, and however " wrong or irregular the transaction, the " responsibility rested with the principal who ** directed them." — An instance occurred in the year 1800, which may afford a specimen of their atrocity. m ■li W 1' .ii 66 ri ■I '■ HI' Mr. Frederick Schultz, a clerk of the Old North- West Company liad, in the year 1800, the command of a post established near Lake St. Ann, or Nipigon. AniWg his men, was one of the name of Labau, a fine young lad, about nineteen years of age, who understood English, find had iq the j^oursje of the pre- ceding wjptpr becarpe intimate with the ser- vants of the Hudson's Bay Company, who occupied a post near the same place. In the spring, when the traders on both sides were preparing to leave their wintering ground, Labau resolved to join the Hudson's B^y people, and go down with them to their Factory on the coast. Schultz, having re- ceived intelligence of this, sent his interpreter to qyder Labau to return to his duty, and to remind him that he was in debt to the North- West Company. In answer to this message, Labau promised to remit the money that he cjwed to the Company, but declared that hq would not remain any longer in their service. This answer being reported to Schultz, he ^'d^id with vehemence, that if the scoundrel would not come back willingly, he would (iOimpel him., He then took Ijiis dagger and ^arefv^lly whetted it, and having dressed him- ^^If in his best attire, went over to the Hud- son's Bay post, where he found Labau, and 67 asked hinfi, in a furious tone, \vhether he wotild.come ^vith him; Labau was intimi- dated, and hesitatingly answered Yes ; but, watching his opportunity, endeavoured to escape out of the room. Upon this, Schultz drew his dagger, and aimed a blow, which Labau in vain tried to avoid. He was stabbed in the loin, and died the sameevening. Labau was much beloved by his feUow-sefr- vants, and the conduct of Schultz occasioned such murmur among the servants of the North- West Company, asstembled at the rendezvous at the Grand Portage, that it was not thought advisable to employ him any longer in that quarter. This, however, was the only notic6 taken of this savage murder. Schultz cattie down in the canoes of the North-West Com- pany to Montreal, where he remained at large, and unnoticed fot some months. He was afterwards agaitt taken into the service bf that Company ; btit employed in a different paH of theit establishmehls, where his con- duct was not so Svell knowti. He continued in the employmetit of the Company for Several years, and is how living undisturbed in Lower Canada. After the coalition of the Old and New North- West Companies, and the expulsion of all private adventurers from Cahidd, th6 '■im m ' i' 1' s I ■ ' ' 1 68 Hudson's Bay Company became their only rival to the North and West of Lake Superior. From that time, the ferocious spirit which had been fostt red among the clerks and ser- vants of the two Companies by six years of continual violence, was all turned against the Hudson's Bay Company: and there is reason to believe not only that a systematic plan was formed for driving their traders out of all the valuable beaver countries, but that hopes were entertained of reducing that Company to so low an ebb, as in time t( iduce them to make over iheir chartered ri^ihts to their commercial rivals*. Accordingly fur several years a train of the most unprovoked aggres- sion has been carried on against the servants of this Company. / few instances may be mentioned which will give the reader some idea of the North-West Company's mode of conducting a commercial competition. In May 1806, Mr. William Corrigal, a trader in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, was stationed with a few men at a place called Bad Lake, within the limits of Albany Factory, (in the Hudson's Bay terri- tory,) and near a post occupied by a much * The Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company was granted by King Charles II. in the year 1670. 69 larger number of men, commanded by Mr. Haldane, a partner in the North- West Com- pany. Five of the Canadians in his service, watching their opportunity, broke into Mr. Corrigal's house about midnight, when he and his men were in bed. The villains immedi- ately secured all the loaded guns and pistols they could find. One of them seized Mr. Corrigal, and, presenting a pistol to his breast, threatened to shoot him if he made any resistance. The others in the mean time rifled the store-house, and took away furs to the amount of four hundred and eighty beaver. Mr. Corrigal went immediately to Mr. Hal- dane (whom he found up and dressed), and complaining of the conduct of his servants, demanded that the stolen property should be restored. Haldane answered that ** he had come to that country for furs, and that furs he was determined to have." His men were allowed to carry these furs as their own pro- perty, to the Grand Portage, where they were sold to the North-West Company, and formed a part of their returns for that year. A similar robbery took place at Red Lake in the same spring, at another trading house, also under the charge of Mr. Corrigal, and which was forcibly entered by eight of the Canadians, armed with pistols and knives, \t ■ 'IH'' ?•' I ' 70 1 1 . 1 il M 1 * j-W 'li , '^ 1 \ ' ' 'X' . iii. ^1 '■! ::|,; 1 iS 'f lit 1 ill ; li :i '['.'■ ^ • 1 ! . -^ ' : 1 i'-' ^i • h if ' ' '• .' ! ' 1 t ^ s ■i ii 1:' ft i- r =1 r 1 1 ' M ■ . .f' 1 iX who threatened to murder the servants of the Hudson's Bay, Company who were there, and carried off furs to the amount of fifty beaver. Not long after this, they again forcibly broke open the same warehouse, and robbed it of a considerable quantity of cloth, brandy, to- bacco, ammunition, &c. &c. In autumn 1806, John Crear, a, trader in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, (also on the establishment of Albany Factory,) occupied a post with five men at a place called Big Fall, near Lake Winipic. One evening a party of Canadians in two canoes, commanded by Mr. Alexander Mac Donell, then a clerk of the North-West Company, arrived and encamped at a short distance. In the following morning four of Crear*s men. set out for their fishing grounds, about a mile off; i'.iimediately after which Mr. Mac Donell came to the house with his men, and charging Crear with having traded furs from an Indian, who was indebted to the North-West Com- pany, insisted on these furs being given up to him. On Crear's refusal Mr. Mac Donell's men broke open the warehouse door. William Plowman, the only servant that remained with Crear, attempted to prevent them from enter- ing ; but one of the Canadians knocked him down, while another presented a gun at Crear it hitmellf. Mac Dondl hatv'^ttg pfeVetit^d With ffdrtl fh-ing, h6 (the Cahadian) struck Cr6^r ifr the ey6 ^^ith th6 butt end of his gun,\^hich cohered his face with blood, dnd fellled him to the j^round. Mr. MtfC Donell himself stabbed Plow^man irt t!h^ arrtt ^Vith a dagger, and gave him a da'rtgerou's' wound. The CanBfdilafn'S then rifled the' Warehouse : the fCirs" being taken in summer were of little value; but they carried 6'^ U^o bags of flour, a quantity of salt pork and' beef, arid* soine dried' venison, aild afso took away a new- canoe belonging to the Hudson"*s Bay Com- paTiy. In the foll'owing February Mac DonelV sent one of hisi junior clbrk's With a party of itten, who agaiti attacked' Creafs house, over- powered hirti, beat hi'iti and hiis men in the itiost brutal* nianner, and carried away a great number of valuable furs. They also obliged' Grfearto sign a puper, acknowl'edging tliat he hat! given up the fur^ vblilnt'arily, which tliey ejCtorted with' threats Of irtstarit rfeath if He should refuse. Mr. Alexander M'ac Dbriell has lat'ely bee^ti promoted to tlie station of^ a partner in the Nortli^West Company. fn the year 1808, Mr. John Spence of the H^idkon's B^ay Company, comnianded a post fitted out frorrt Ghurchili Factory, at Rein Ibh&r Lake, in t!ie nfeiglibourliood of which • ^k 4 4 m\\\\ ■r : 5 '1 '• ';;:'! i:l '4 |i!4. if i I I 73. there was a station of the North-West Com- pany, commanded by Mr. John Duncan Campbell, one of the partners. In the course of the spring, William Linklater, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, was sent out to meet some Indians, from whom he traded a parcel of valuable furs. He was bringing them home on a hanxl sledge, and was at no great distance from the house, when Campbell came out with a number of his men, stopped him, demanded the furs, and on being refused, drew a dagger, with which he cut the traces of the sledge, while at the same time one of his men took hold of Linklater's snow-shoes, tripped him up, and made him fall on the ice. The sledge of furs was then nauled away to the North-West Company's house. — Campbell offered to Mr. Spence to send other furs, in exchange for those which he had thus robbed him of: but they were of very inferior value, and the latter refused the compromise. The fuis were carried away, and no coiiipen- sation ever made. On another occasion at Isle a la Crosse Lake, (in the year 1805,) the same Campbell attacked two of the servants of the HudsonV Bay Company, and took a parceVof fursfrcm them in the same way : some of tlie men from the Hudson's Bay House came out to assist IS their fellow-servants, but were attacked bv superior numbers of the Canadians, and beat off with violence and bloodshed. In the year 1809, Mr. Fidlerwas sent with a party of eighteen men, from Churchill Factory, to establish a trading post at Isle ^ la Crosse, near the bort'jfs of the Athabasca country, but within the territories of the Hudson's Bay Comp.iny. He remained there for two years, sending a detachment of his people to Green Lake and Bc'aver River. Dunng the firs^t winter he had some success, but afterwards im was effectually obstructed. On many forrr^er occasions, the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company had attempted to establish a trade in this place, which is in the centre of a country abounding m beaver; but they had always been obliged to renounce the attempt. The methods used with Mr. Fidler may explain the causes of this failure. Mr. John M'Donald had been Mr. Fidler's compe'-tor during the earlier part of the winter, but (not being inclined to set all prin- ciples of law and justice at defiance,) was removed, and relieved, rirst by Mr. Robert Henry, and then by Mr. John Duncan Campbell. The North-West Company having been established for many years at Isle a !a Crosse without any competition, had obtained ■rM' M l!, . n li, il mm it ' Hi i'i: !!:■ i| ^ 1' 1 Lii-M.... what they call the attathm^nt of the Ittdians, that is to say^ they had reduced them to sach abject submisBioDy that the very sight of u Canadian' was siitflicient to* itvsfoiire them mth terror. Imi order tliat tliis salutany awe might suffer no diminution, the post at Isle k lat Cpos«e was reinforced with an extra number of Canadians, so that the natives might be eflfeetually prevented from holding any intev- course with the traders of the Hudson's Ba»y Conspanyy and that the appearance of so very superior a force, ready to overwhelm aind- destroy him^ might deter Mr. Fidler from* any attempt to protect his customers; A watch- house was built close to his* door, so that no Indians could enter uiiobstrved;; a party of professed battailleurs were stationed' herie, a«d employed, not only to watc!h the natives^, but to give every possifile annoyatice, nigheiled to lea-ve it, and the Canadians immediately burnt his house to the ground. . From the few. specimens above submitted, the reader may form a tolerable judgment of the methods by which the North- West Com- pany may be expected to counteract any person who shall interfere with their interest; and it can no longer be a mystery, how, with- out any legal rights, except those which are open alike to all British subjects, they have contrived to maintain the exclusive posses- sion of so lucrative a. branch of trade. They have endeavoured to palliate their aggressions against the servants of the Hud- son's Bay Company by recriminating upon their competitors. — ^This was tofbe expected. Where facts oould not be denied, no other resource seemed so convenient asr recrimina- tion. Indeed they have attempted, by this mode, to justify acts of still greater atrocity than most of those above adverted to ; but as these are now in a regularr train of judicial lii fl- ■ IlilP '•1;,: I !■ \\\ i I'd'' : »i*' t ill : 'M'h ill I !';■ ■ '1 ,1 ■ ft 2f"' ■ ,:lic.- I!, 1 tl^^ if;i- it w m '!l \ 76 ittc|uiryi (in consequence of which the facts will be brought before the public at a more proper time, and in a more regular form,) it would not be advisable at present to detail them. If it be true, however, as the North- West Company, in their spirit of recrimina- tion, allege, that the Hudson's Bay Company are as bad as themselves, there is surely the more reason for a serious inquiry on the part of Government. The charge, however, appears to be without the slightest shadow of probability. The servants of the Hudson's Bay Company have always been too inferior in point of numbers to their antagonists in the interior, to have made it at all prudent for them to commit acts nf aggression. Besides, their object has always been indubitably lawful, while the aim of their antagonists has bcrn to t?xcludo them ^Vom their ligul rights. An ndditional circumstanct' may also be notnl, which makes it extremely improbable that the Hudson's Bay Company should havr at any time been so prone to aggression as their opponents. Till within these few years the officers of that Company have always been paid by fixed salaries, and had no direct interest in the extension of the trade, or increase of its returns. This circumstance alone is perhaps sufficient to account for 77 i much of that comparative remissness (with respect to the prosecution of the Fur Trade) which the Company has been accused of. Their officers in the interior had never that spur to activity which stimulated the wintering partners of the North- West Company, all of whom had a direct personal interest in the advancement of the Canadian Fur Trade, and had under them numerous clerks and servants eagerly watching opportunities to obtain the approbation of their superiors, and rather courting, than avoiding, oc». asions of personal danger. The allegations, there- fore, of the North-West Compafly are rather curious when they charge the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, at one and the same moment, with apathy, and with aggression ! If it be admitted that the latter Company did not hold out a sufficient slinw^'ii* of self-interest to prompt their servants in the interior to exertion in the cunse of thi^ii' employers, it is surely not very probubhs that, without any such inducement, the snme ser- vants vvould be disposed, by aggression, to incur the risk, if not the certainty, of personal danger from their more numerous and more powerful opponents*. * Within these few years a change has taken place in the management of the Hudson's Bay Company's affairs, m s'l w. M' nil. , ! 78 When we consider also the constittftronof the Hudson's Bay Company at home, (t appears stil'l more unlikely thai any aggression should originate from those employed in their service. The management of the Com pany^s affairs (as in other chartered bodies of a similar description) is entrusted to a Board of Direc- tors in I 1.0 I.I lti|2£ 12.5 U tiiS H; 1^ ill 2.0 12.2 IliS- 11.25 i 1.4 ^m.^ ^ 7a 4^ NT ^ jv" 1/ '^ ^. 7: 0> ^ Photographic Sciences Corporation \ •^ :\ \ ''^. V €^ <^>^ ^ ;\ ^2^'' 23 WK;.M"NSTCteT WIBSTER.N.y. i4S80 (716) 872-4503 6^ .:.'/' Ni il' ' >, If 84 profit from the vices of their servants, and had given a constant preference to drunkards and spendthrifts, rather than to sober and steady men, there can be little doubt, that they would soon have brought about a corres- ponding change in the habits of their people. Another proof of the moderation of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of the honour- able views by which they are governed, may be derived from their ready and cordial con- currence in the plan, already adverted to, for imposing a legislative restriction on the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians. Unon the whole, it must be sufficiently evident, that the extensive countries occu- pied by the North-West Company are in a state which calls aloud for the attention of the British Legislature ; and that the honour of the nation cannot fail to be tarnished, if the outrages now practised be allowed to go on without effectual check or interference. Before entering, however, into the considera- tion of what measures should be adopted to remedy these evils, it may be necessary to inquire what has already been done by the Legislature in the view of amelioraling the condition of these remote countries. The only Act of the British Legislature 85 which appears to relate to them, is that of 4€ Geo. III. cap. 138, comiriOnly, called the " Canada Jurisdiction Act," and, in that Pro- vince, known by the name of the " Act of 1803." This was passed after the formation of the New North- West Company, in consequence of some violent proceedings that had taken; place between their servants and those of the Old Company, and which had ended in blood- shed. The professed object of this Act is to re- medy a defect of the law arising from the cir-i cumstance that some parts of British America^ were not within the limits of any British colony, so that offences committed there could not be tried by any jurisdiction whatever. In order to remedy this evil, tho courts of law in Canada are allowed to take cognizance of any offences which may be committed within certain districts, termed in the Act the "Indian Territories." This vague term has been used without any definition to point out the par- ticular territories to which the Act is mearxt to apply. From the preamble it would appear, that the persons who drew it up were ignorant of the existence of any British colony in North America, except Upper and Lower Canada; and an argument has been maintained, which, under the denomination of Indian Territories, would include not only f I hi • 4 m iff.it, m 'trn mi W II 1 .?' 86 those of the' Hudson's Bay Company, but New Brunswi ' Though it would b^ difficult to quote an instance of homicide more decidedly justi^- able, all Canada rung with the clamours of the Old Noith-West Coipp^ny against this murder, as they chose to term it. It was upon this occasion that the Act of 1803 was obtained, under the idea that the case could .not be brought to trial, though it might undoubtedly have been tried at Westminster under the Act of Henry VIII. Every effort was subsequently used by the North- West Company to take Lamotte, but it was not till the spring of 1805 that he fell into their hands. He was brought to a trading- post, commanded by Mr. Archibald Norman (• 91 M*Leod, where he was kept for a considerable time in the most rigorous confinement, sub- jected to every insult, and experiencing every species of severity and privation. But, before he was brought dowa to Montreal for trial, the coalition between the two companies had taken place : he was liberated, and no legal proceedings instituted against him. Only one case has been brought to trial under the Act of 1803 ; and the circumstances relating to it deserve particular notice. In- deed the whole transaction which gave rise to that trial, and the singular proceedings connected with it, are of a description scarcel^y to be equalled in the judicial annals of any age or country. In the autumn of 1809, Mr. William Gor- rigal acted as a trader in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, at a post which he occupied near Eagle Lake to the North of Lake Superior. On the 15th of September, a party of the North-West Company esta- blished an encampment about forty yards from his house, under the command of one ^neas Mac Donnel, a clerk of the latter Company. The same evening an Indian arrived in his canoe to trade with Corrigal, and to pay a debt which he owed him. He was not able, however, to defray the whole t but if he was detained till the spring, one of them should be sent back to Eagle Lake, and that Mr. Corrigal himself should go to Montreal as a witness in his room. ■, ;j,i]'>U. These precautionary measures having been thus tak*en, Mowat and his two witnesses proceeded to the North- West Company's en^ camproent, where the former was put in irons; Next day, Adhemar, with six men, together with the prisoner, and his witnesses, set off for Lac La Pluie, where they arrived on the 2nd of October. From that day till the 19th, Mowat was kept generally in irons from six in the morning till eight in the evening. On the 19th they were taken off, but were replaced on the 26th, and although he had neither the means nor the inclination to.make his escape, they were kept on during the night. This treatment continued till the 14th of Deceuiber. During the whole winter he was kept in close confinement, and his witnesses themselves were subjected to much insult and indignity, and were obliged to submit to every species^ of drudgery and labour, in order to obtain a bare subsistence. 97 On the 26th of February, 1810, Leask was sent back to E«g]e Lake from Lac La Pluie, as had been agreed upon. On the 25th of May, Mr. Corrigal arrived at the latter place ' from Eagle Lake; on the 29tli Mowat and ■ Tate were sent off witli Adlicniar for the North-West Company's rendezvous at Fort William, on Lake Superior; and two days afterwards Corrigal was dispatched for the same place. They all arrived there on the 9th of June, when Mowat was immediately imprisoned in a close and miserable dungeon, about six or eight feet square, without any window or light of any description whatever. On the 21st of June Mr. Angus Shaw, a partner of the North-West Company, and a magistrate for the Indian territory (under the Act of 1803) arFived at Fort William from Montreal. Next dav Mowat was ordered to be brought before him, guarded by three men with muskets and fixed bayonets. The prisoner became a little restive at this summons, and refused to go, saying, that he did not want to be taken before any magistrate till b. arrived at Montreal. He was, however, dragged out of his dungeon, and brought before the magistrate, who, being unable to extract any thing from his mute and stubborn prisoner, ordered him to be taken back to his prison and put in irons. li m 1 p' il I 'Ir V. Mi 96 From the 22nd of June, to the lOth of July, canoes went off almost daily to Mont^ real.. The witnesses, repeatedly requested that they should be sent down there, but in vain. During that period they were not allowed to hold any communication with the prisoner, being only permitted to look into his cell, at the time his allowance of victuals was handed to him. On the 10th, Tate got an opportunity of speaking to him. Upon inquiring how he was treated, Mowat said he \Yas well off for food, but that he was kept in hand-cuffs from seven o'clock every evening till nine in the morning. After this the prisoner fell sick, and when Corrigal and Tate were informed of it, they went to see him, but were refused admittance. He grew worse on the l6th, and sent for Tate, who found him lu a most lamentable state, his arms cut with his fetters^ and his body covered with boils« He had asked for medicine, but got none, though there was a doctor in the place* From this time Tate continued to visit the prisoner as often ajs he could, dressed his sores, washed his linen, 8^c, &c. and on one occasion procured for him some medicine. On the 26th M'LeUan, and the pierson who had the custody of Mowat, told T9(te that the prisoner wished to see him. They all went together, when Mowsit advistid 9d Tate to try and make bi» escape with Cc^rrigal, for, as to himself, lie believed they meanrt to keep him there to murcrer him. M*Lellnn assured him that thut was not the case ; that there was a niagislrate on the spot, and that' justice would be done him. The prisoner remonstrated on their keeping him there in irons, and not sending him down at once to a place where he could be tried. On the 5th of August, they brought Mowat's knife and razors to Tate> saying, they could not trtwt them with him any longer, as they thought he was growing deranged. Tate, however, continued occasionally to visit and assist him till the 17th of August, when he was brought out of his dungeon to be sent off to Montreal. In taking him out he fell down on the ground from weakness ; and, when they were assisting him into the canoe, he again fell head-long in the bottom of it among the luggage, and cut Jiis face with his hand-cuffs. — This was the twentieth canoe belongingto the North- Weftt Comfmny which had left Fort William for Montreal during their stay at that place. On the 2()th of August, Corfigal and Tate were also sent off from Fort William in dif- ferent conveyances, and on the ISth of Sep- tember, Tate arrived at MontWal. The day after his arrival, a servant of the '''ill IM: % m i(k) North-AVest Company, whom he had known during the lime he was at Lake Superior, came in search of him, and told him that Mr. M*Gil]ivray of that Company wished much to see hiin. He accordingly wont with him to one of the Compan^y's warehouses—but find- ing that gentleman was not there, he requested to be conducted to him. He was told to wait, as Mr. M'Gillivray was immediately expected. In a few minutes he heard some of the people who were at work in the ware- house, say, " here he comes, here he comes." Tate turned round on the landing place of the staircase where he stood, in order to make way, as he thought, for Mr. M'Gillivray, but, to his astonishment, found it was a constable, "who laid hold of him, and told him he was his prisoner! He was immediately taken before a magistrate, and committed to the common goal, " for aiding and abetting one John Mowat in the murder of jEneas Mac Donnel*," &c. &c. &:c. * The charge of aiding and abetting (in the murder) as it was irregularly specified in the commitment, \yas laid upon the oath of Joseph Parisien ! — The reader ma}' recollect that this miscreant had been amongst the most ferocious of the party who made the attack at Eagle Lake, ^nd l>y a blow with his felling axe, had almost killed Jo|m Essen, who was unarmed, and had fallen in the \yater. ■f 101 i ' Mr. Corrigal, the. other witness, arrived at Montreal on the 27th of September, and, about a quarter of an hour after his arrival, was also committed to prison on a similai? charge. . ■• Thus were these two men ehtrapped, who had volunteered to be taken down .to Mont- real (a distance of at least fifteen hundred miles) as witnesses in behalf of Mowat, who had, on that condition, peaceably delivered himself up at Eagle Lake. Mowat and his two witnresses were utter strangers in Mont- real, and it was evident^that jf the former was to be deprived of the testimony of Corrigal and Tate, no other witness could be expected to appear in his favour. In order, therefore, entirely lo preclude the accused from obtain- ing their testimony to clear him of the crime which had been laid to his charge, .the inge- nious device was resorted to of indicting his witnesses as being themselves concerned in his guilt! ^ :r i Corrigal and Tate, (the former of whom had been four .months, and the latter a year, in the detention of the North- West Company,), remained jn prison in Montreal about six n?onthsVand during most of that time, they, as well as Mowat, experienced great distress and want. During part of that period, how-. I* 1 ,1 '■ih f i: Hi'. ' h ''S' 16S ever, they excited the commiseration, and received the charitable aid of some benevolent rndividuals of that place. The Hudson's Bay Company, it should be observed, had, at that time, no agent or cor- respondent at Montreal, cr at any place in Canada. It was not till the end of November that the Directors heard of the prosecutioa thus carried on against their servants, when immediate steps were taken for their protec- tioti, and able Counsel engaged for their defence. Mowat and his witnesses were indicted for murder. The Grand Jury found a true bill against Mowat, but none against the others. These were, in consequence, discharged, and were thereby rendered com- petent witnesses at Mowat's trial which for- tunately had not taken place before their liberation. Had the attempt to preclude them from giving evidence succeeded, it is not unlikely that a moie fatal sentence would have been pronounced against the prisoner than that which awaited him. In England it has been generally supposed that it is almost impossible, ait Jeast extremely imprw>bable, that an innocent man should be convicted ; but the guards which are placed by tlie- law of England for the protection of the innocent, are strengthened and secured by 103 id Int circumstances wlvichj unfortunately > are not alway:; to be found in a different and more contracted scale of sr ?iety. When, in a town of such limited population as Montreal, there exists an extensive commercial establishment* giving employment to a large proportion 6f the tradesmen of the place, and including a great number of partners, who form a prin- cipal part of the society, and who are con- nected by marriage or consanguinity with almost all the principal resident families, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it may be difficult to find either a grand or a petty jury totally uneonnected with that Association; and that even the bench itself may not be altogether free from bias in cases wherein the interests of that Company might be eventually concerned. In the case of Mowat, it is well known that several partners of the North- West Company were upon the grand jury which found the bill of indictment ; and out of four judges, who sat upon the bench, two were nearly related to individuals of that Association. In the course of the trial cir- cumstances occurred, which could not have taken place in a court of justice in England, without exciting indignation from one end of the k\t\gdom~i^ the other. The counsel fot the prisoner was lepeatedly interrupted in his 11 :Hj ^;i H 1^ ffefv 104 cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution, by the judges prompting the witness, and helping him to preserve his consistency. One of these witnesses, however, did, on his cross-examination, acknowledge facts totally inconsistent th the evidence which he had given upon his examination in chief, and upon this, one of the judges inter- rupted the counsel in an angry tone, and reproached him for having made the witness contradict himself. It was with great diffi- culty that the advocate for the prisoner could obtain leave to address the jury on the point Qf law, and to explain the distinction between murder and justifiable homicide. His argu- ment was repeatedly interrupted from the bench; and, notwithstanding the clearest evidence that Mac Donnel began the fray in the most unprovoked and unprincipled man- ner, — that he was engaged in an act of direct robbery, and that he was threatening the lives of Mow at and his fellow-servants at the time he was shot ; it was the opinion of the bench, that the man who killed him was guilty of murder, and such was their charge to the jury. After a consultation of fifteen or sixteen hours, the jury brought in a verdict o^ manslaughter^ Among the minor irregularities in the pro- ceedings, it may be observed, that no suffi-, »'■! 105 cient evidence was produced as to the place, where the act was committed, being within the jurisdiction of the court. The spot must ill fact have been, either within the limits of Upper Canada, or of the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company; but in consequence of the very short time which the counsel had to prepare themselves, they were not suffici- ently instructed to take the objection, which they might have done, to the jurisdiction, and no notice was taken of it from the bench. Movvat was sentenced to be imprisoned six months, and branded on the hand with a hot iron. Immediately before the expiration of this imprisonment, viz. in September 1811, (two years from the date of his first being put in irons at Eagle Lake), those persons at Montreal, who had interested themselves about him, and who had strenuously exerted them- selves in his behalf, did every thing in their power to prevail upon him to present a petition to the President of the province, in order to have the remaining part of his Sentence (the burning on the hand) remitted. A petition was drawn up for that purpose, and the jury were induced to join in the object of the application. But. notwithstanding every at- tempt to persuade him to sign it, Mowat remained stubborn and inflexible. No pcr- 1; ii. r»t. !Tt;i 106 ill ! 1 If ■ ^ suasion could bend him. He declared that he would ask no favour in a country wher6 he had been so unjustly condemned, and he was accordingly burnt in the hand in pursu^ ance of his sentence*. ' . . ■ , . *. The circumstances of the whole of this case evince such an abuse and perversion of the intentions of the British Legislature, that one cannot but hope, that as Mowat's trial was the first which occurred under the Act of 1803, so it may be the last. By its operation, that Statute only tends to confirm and augment the despotism of. a trading company, the partners of which, till recently, have been exclusively nominated Magistrates for those countries which have been so vaguely de* scribed in the Act. It places in the hands of a commercial association a dangerous weapon, by which they are enabled to crush almost every one who comes in competition with them : because, nothing can be more easy than to invent a plausible subject of accusa- tion, which may serve as a pretext for sending off a rival trader, hundreds, even thousands — ■ ' ' ■ - '■ ' • .I ' -.i I ..i..^ I . m - .■.-■.■■ — • -■«■- -■■.■- - m, -.^ M .1. ■■ • After his discharge, Mowat proceeded from Canada to the United States, in order to return to England, bnt has never since been heard of. He is supposed to have been drowned by the breaking of the ice, in ooe of^ the rivers he had to cross in his tvay. 107 of miles to Montreal. The person aggrieved may indeed have his remedy by an action for false imprisonment, and after two or three years have passed in law proceedings, he may be ready to resume his trade ; but in the mean time the North- West Company have got rid of a competitor; and if the damages be assessed on the same principle as those ad* judged to Mr. Rousseau, they will form but a very small drawback to the advantage of preserving their monopoly unimpaired duriug the interval*. When we consider how little is known in England of the local circumstances of our colonies in North America, it will not appear surprising that so injudicious an Act of Par^. liament should have passed the Legislature. The only persons consulted on the subject of the introduction of the Bill, were the partners and agents of the two Fur Trading Companies of Montreal, whose interests upon this point were completely united, and who were not very likely to suggest that other parties might also have an interest in the question. The Hud- son's Bay Company in particular, as I have been informed, never received any intima- tion of such a measure being in contempla- tion. According to established usage, and m ^ See Rousaeau'i Case, page 5^. "J 1' 1 it; ^1 I: If 108 to those principles of justice and faird(!;nlin^ which are held sacred by the British Legis- lature, an opportunity should undoubtedly have been allowed t^ that Company to state their claims, and point out where the provisions of the Bill might have militated against the rights of their Charter, if such indeed could at all be affected by its enact- ments. Yet the advocates of the North- AVest Company have gone so far as to main- tain that the Act not only extends to the Hudson's Bay territories, but that it has the effect of taking away the rights of jurisdiction conferred by the Charter. That those who suggested this Act might have entertained a secret view to this object, is by no means unlikely, but they will probably find the attempt to make it bear that interpretation fruitless. It is unnecessary, however, to enter upon that point. But before quitting this subject, it may be proper to offer some obser- vations upon the general policy of those clauses in the Hudson's Bay Charter, by which the jurisdiction of their territory is vested in the Company. Those rights of jurisdiction which in the feudal times were so frequently annexed to private property, are now generally abolished, or if, in any instances, they still exist in Great Britain, they are justly considered 100 as the remains of a rude and barbarous system. Against any new establishment of the same description a strong prejudice must naturally be felt; and the objection is per- fectly just wherever such jurisdiction would interfere with the ordinary administration of justice in the King's Courts. But among the colonial possessions of Great Britain, there are situations where it would have no such effect, and where, in fact, there is no alterna- tive between having a private jurisdiction, or no jurisdiction at all. Generally speaking, this must be the case wherever a colonial establishment is formed by individuals with- out any assistance from the public purse. Such establishments are now very rare ; but they were not so at the period when the Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company was granted. Nearly about the same date (16*70) other large provinces in America were granted by the Crown toindividuals, or to companies, who undertook to colonize them at their own expense; and it was then no uncommon circumstance, that individuals of the highest rank should be concerned in speculations of this nature*. All the most flourishing colonies * The following were the original Grantees named in the Hudson's Bay Company's Charier, viz. Prince Rupert, (Ilount Palatine of the Khine, Duke of Bavaiia and Cum> 1^1 ■i r'; i': 1 10 [ i^ Whi. It t ! 1|' 1 !: 1 ^' * . I'll. i '. * J. '■. i ii'' ' r ' 1; ;|9e '■ ^ V ,( tiif ' ■ •■> iM ' ■' ,i' H M 1 in British America were established on this principle. Maryland and Pensylvania are well-known instances ; Carolina, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine, %yere settled on the same plan ; not to speak of the original colonies of Virginia and New England, which were first established by pri- vate speculators, though the Crown afterwards assisted in their support. In some of these cases the territory was granted to individuals, and the jurisdiction reserved to the Crown ; Id othero, the right of jurisdiction wasgnnted along with the territory. Where the juris- diction was reserved, the Crown was to be at the charge of providing for the administration of justice ; but where it M^as thought not advisable that this expense should be borne by the public, the right of jurisdiction was delegated to the proprietors of the soil. This arrangement was a matter of necessity ; for if berland,&c,— Christo^jher^Dukie of Albermarle. — William, Earl of Craven. — Henry, Lord Arlington. — Anthony , Lord Ashley.— Sir Joha Robinson, and Sir Robert Vyner* Knights and Baronets.— Sir Peter Colleton, Baronet.— Sir Edward Hungerford, Knight of the Bath. — Sir Paul Neele, Knight.— Sir John Griffith, and Sir Philip Carteret Kmght*.— James Hayes, John Kirk, Francis Mitfingion, William Prettymen, John Fenn, Esquires— and J«hn Por^man, Citizen and Goldsmilb* of Loudon. * Ill the Government had neither provided for the administration of justice, nor enabled the grantees of the Province to do so, it would have been utterly impossible to have formed colonies on any just principle of policy or civilization. Where justice could not be ad- ministered by the immediate officers of the Crown, the natural course was to delegate the task to those who, from their rights of pro perty, had a superior degree of interest both in the maintenance of good arder>aftd in the general prosperity of the province. Tb« persons who were subjected to this delegated jurisdiction had in all cases aright to appeal to the King in Council — a check which was sufficient to prevent any gross injustice or oppression towards the colonists ; and if the institution was not theoretically perfect, it seems at least to have been the best that the circumstances of the case could admit of. Though in some instances the rights of juris- diction thus conferred by the Crown, were afterwards taken away by Act of Parliament, that measure was never resorted to> but upon proof of misconduct and mal-adnantstration. Ik some provinces (Pensylvania and Connec- ticut for instance) the jurisdiction estahlifthed by their respective charters, continued tp be iyi t i'' Si! I IJ!' |1' i!' i VA •i (1^ 112 exercised m a satisfactory manner, till they ceased to be colonies of Great Britain. From these observations, it will besufficiently evident, that the jurisdiction vested in the Hudson's Bay Company was, under the cir- cumstances of their case, a necessary accom- paniment to the grant of territory which the Charter conferred on them. If that jurisdic- tion should be abused, it may be taken away, as others have been; but it would by no means be analogous to the usual mode of proceeding in the British Legislature, if such a step were to be taken without inquiry, and without giving the Company an opportunity of being heard in their own defence; still, more were it to be effected without the. slightest proof of mal-administration in the Company, or abuse of their Charter, but merely by the oblique operation of an Act of Parliament passed for a totally different pur-, pose. If the ofFu ers of the Hudson's Bay Company had been guilty of misconduct in. the exercise of their jurisdiction, we may be sure that the North-West Company would not have allowed iZ to remain unobserved. They have never, however, ventured to bring forward any charge of this kind before thc; tribunal to which the cognizance of such. Ill 113 matters properly belongs ; and, till they take this step in a manly and distinct manner, no attention can be paid either to anonymous charges, or to the avowed accusations of inte- rested parties, brought forward extra-judi- cially, and vaguely asseiied without daring to come to issue on the proof. There is, there- fore, no reason to admit that the Hudson's Bay Company have hitherto done any thing to warrant a forfeiture of their privileges. If, however, any paramount consideration of public interest should ever require the aboli- tion of the rights of jurisdiction conferred by the Charter, it cannot be done without substituting in its room some less objection- able system of judicature ; and much reason- ing cannot be required to shew that such system must not be looked for in enact- ments similar to those of the Act of 1803. We have already noticed the extreme hard- ship and injustice of having criminal offences tried at Montreal, when the cases occur in remote pans of the Indian country. If this be the case with the fur traders, how much greater must the hardship be on the settlers, who now hold, or may hereafter possess lands, by grant or permission from the Hud- son's Bay Company. To men of this descrip* tioD it will, io most cases, be an absolute !| I'i j:^: 114 impossibility to undertake a journey to Mont- real at their own expense ; and if that is to be the nearest place where redress for injuries can be legally obtained, they can have no alternative but to submit to every outrage, or, like the savagea^ to take redress in their own hands. Everv man who has acted as a magistrate must be aware of the multi- tude of petty offences which can only be judged of on the spot where they occur, and which no one would think of carrying to a distant tribunal ; yet, if petty injuries cannot be speedily redressed, the probability is, that, by retaliation and a succession of mutual violence, provocation may be aggra- vated, till the deepest crimes, and murder itself be the result. The necessity of a local jurisdiction is no less evident, in respect to matters of civil right. Can it be supposed that such questions as a disputed boundary between ttvo farms ; — the recovery of a debt of eight or ten pounds ;--or the damages occasioned by the trespass of a horse or a cow into a neighbour's corn-field, are to be referred to a tribunal at the distance of two or three thousand miles ? If, therefore, the powers of jurisdiction vested in the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company are to be taken away, a ocal judicature must be esta- 115 Wished and supported at the public expense. If the public are satisfied to incur this charge, the Company are not likely to feel any great reluctance in giving up the administration of justice into better hands. That privilege can be to them nothing but a burthen which the necessity of the case obliges them to under- take, but which they cannot be anxious to retain, if other and sufficient means be found of enforcing a due regard to the laws of England. It may be doubted, however, whe- ther a new establishment, calculated effec- tually to accomplish this object, would be at all acceptable to the North- West Company. It has evidently been their aim to have no administration of justice that would at all interfere with their immediate trading inte* rests. Superiority of numbers and of physical strength has proved to be their only rule of right. But as they cannot expect a formal recognition of that code, or hope to obtain a sweeping repeal of the Law of England in their favour, they will probably attempt to continue their monopoly by means similar to those they have hitherto exerted to maintain it. If a choice were to be made between two plans of judicature, their interest, if we may judge of the future from the past, must lead 116 :( them to prefer that which is most likely to be inefficient ; and to no new measure can we hope for their cordial approbation, unless it would admit of being perverted into an engine of oppression, like their favourite Act of 1803, or would tend to confirm thaf system of juris- prudence which Sir Alexander M*Kenzie so emphatically describes — "this is Indian law." In as far as this question affects the interest of the agricultural settlers, who hold lands by grant from the Hudson's Bay Company, it may perhaps be advanced, that no attention what- ever ought to be paid to them ; for it appears that the advocates of the North West Com- pany have made the singular discovery, that it is highly impolitic, and injurious to the in- terest of the public, that these territories should be colonized at all ! Indeed they have not only advanced this paradox theoretically, but have, by means of their servants, clerks, and part- ners, stepped forward in a very energetic manner, to give practical effect to th6ir doctrine. The methods used for this purpose we shall not now detail, as the facts will come soon under the cognizance of a court of justice, and the proofs be submitted to the public. — Suffice it to say, that, from the first moment when the Hudson's Bay Company made a grant of land for the purpose of forming an agricultural settle- • i' 117 ment upon an extended scale within their ter- ritories, the North- West Company avowed the most determined hostility to the undertaking. The settlement in question having been formed in a district, which had been exhausted of valuable furs by the extirpation of the beaver, aud the settlers, by the very tenure of their lands, being also debarred from interfering in the Fur Trade, it may appear extraordinary that any set of traders should have enter- tained such a determined animosity against its establishment*. Nothing surely can be imagined more harmless in itself than the occupation of a farmer; nor does it at first appear very obvious how his peaceable indus- try should interfere with the Fur Trade, par- ticularly as the settlement alluded to is at a great distance from any valuable hunting grounds. But, to those who have considered the system of the North- West Company in all its bearings, the mystery will soon be solved. The key to this, as well as to all the rest of their conduct, is to be found in the leading object of their association,— the main-. tenanceofexclusivepo55C5s/o» where they have * The settlement alluded to was established a few years ago oa the banks of the Red River (near its junction with the Ossiniboyn River) to the South of Lake Winnipic. d>i I iV 118 no exclusive tight. In this view they are jealous of every establishment which cati be formed within the range of their grasping monopoly. Whatever may be the nature or object of that establishment, if it be independent of the North-West Company^s control, it will shew to the miserable natives, that those who compose this Association are not the sole and absolute masters of the country; and a permanent agricultural settlement would tend more effectually than any other to destroy the notion of their irresistible power. A rival trading post may be overawed by superiority of numbers ; the native Indians may also be kept in miserable subjection by superior force ; — but when a body of industrious farmers have once been firmly established, the natural growth of population in a favourable and fertile situation, must so^ i put it out of the power of any lawless combination df traders to overawe and insult them. It must also be evident, that a ftourishing settlement of that description will necessarily bring along with it, in due time, an effective police, and a regular administration of justice; than which, nothing can be a greater object of dread to men who maintain a commercial monopoly by the habitual exercise of illegal violence; — men to whom no code is accept- ii 119 able but the law of the ttroiigest— and who never will be fully satisBed unless the extenBive regions in the North-West of America con- tinue in the exclusive occupation of the savage Indians, the wild beasts of the forest, and themselves. The prospect of seeing the law of England introduced into the heart of the Indian country has proved to be tbe principal motive for all the rancour of which the settlement on Red River has been the object ; but it has been aggravated by the consideration of th« effect which this establishment is calculated to produce on the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company. It seems, therefore, to have been a ^xed detennination in the conclave held by the North- West Cooapany's partners at their rendeisvous at Lake Superior, to effect the destruction of the settlement by on^ method or another, before it should arrive at maturity. Many of tboe m- vaded, but a territory of immense extent. •^*- * This esiiaiate does not indude the value of fiirs obxabed by the merchmite df Canada fiora diBKnicts lymg within the territory of the United States. 123 p()S8C9sing the greatest natural advantages, is . to be cortdemned to perpetual sterility I It has been the policy of the North- West Company, in pursuance of their object of excluding all other British subjects from these territories to represent the extensive tract of land, stretching from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean, and to the Northern ex tremity of the Continent, as altogether a wild and uninhabitable region bound up in per- petual snows. — Nothing can be more wide of the truth.— Not only in the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, but even in Atha- basca, and ^ill more in New Caledonia, beyond the Rocky Mountains, there are most extensive tracts of fertile soil, which, from ihe temperature of the climate, are perfectly capable of advantageous cultiva- tion. In so vast an ^extent of c<^Hintry, tliere must, of course, be great varieties of climate ; but there is a breadth of at least twelve or fiffteen degrees of latitude, as fit to be inhabited as many of the well cultivated countries of the North of Europe ; and within this range, extensive districts may be found that are preferable both in soil and climate, to any of the remaining British Colo- nies on the continent of North America. It is a very moderate calculation to say, that if these regions were occupied by an indus- II r !l: •11 -!i I ,"1- II' hi ii- 1S4 trious population, they might afford ample means of subsi *ence to more than thirty millions of British subjects; and these im- mense res(»urces of national wealth are to be lost sight of for ever, for the sake of a trade to the gross amount of 200, or SOO.OOOjg. per annum I Even if we should look no further than to the Fur T ade ulone, it is evident that the national interest will not be promoted by an adherence to the system of the North-West Company. It has been observed above, that tiieir object is to obtain a great immediate return of furs, without any regard to its per^ manent 'continuance. Their tenure of the country is too precarious to encourage them to make any present sacrifice for the main- tenance of an undiminished produce in future. A war of extermination is therefore carried on again?it all the valuable fur- bearing ani- mals. The diminution of their numbers is already very sensible, and in no long period of time, the beaver may be nearly extirpated, unless some means be tp.ken for their preser- vation ; and it is evident that this can never be effected, except on the principle of ex- clusive landed property, by which the Indians may be encouraged to a it js destructive method of followmg the chase. On this 125 point the interest of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and that of the Indians within tlieir territories, is completely united with that of the public, while the gigantic system of poaching, carried on by the North-West Com- pany, is no less injurious to the public, than it is to the Indians who are the occupiers, and the Company who are the proprietors, of the land. It has been observed that the North-West Company bring bands of Indian hraiters from Canada, who destroy aii before them, and will soon leave the country in- capable of affording either a subsistence to the wretched natives, (who never cultivate the ground,) or a valuable trade to the Hudson's ^ay Comfiany. If the rights of landed property vested in the Company « ere effec- tually protected,' it would be their interest to prevent this cruel encroachment on the native Indians, and to assign to each of them separate hunting grounds on a permc nent tenure ; so that if they would take pains to preserve the breed of beaver, and other valuable animak, they mi^ it be sure of de- riving benefit from their own moderation and foresight. Upon this principle there can be I'Ule doubt that many districts now ex- i:austed o5 furs might be restored. The be!?ver would be preserved with nearly the 126 ' I: ti 1 5 same care as a domestic animal^ and it i& easy to imagioe how much they might then be expected to multiply. After appropri-- ating to agricultural improvement all those parts of the Hudson's Bay territory which are well adapted to it, the refuse, or remainder of the lands might, certainly, under a system of exclusive property, be made to produce more furs than are noT^ obtained from the whole extent of their country. These observations may be applied not only to the territories of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, but to all the unappropriated Indian countries within the British dominions in x^orth America, in every part of which it seems of essential consequence to the welfare of the Indians to give them a permanent tenure of their hunting grounds, as nearly as practicable on the footing of private property. The evils which now press so severely on the miserable natives of Athabasca and the remote Indian countries, as well as those within the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, are radically owing to the premature attempt to establish a system of free trade. We have seen the manner in which this attempt led, first, to all the evils of anarchy, and then, as a natural consequence, to the establishment of a ferocious despotism in the 127 hands of a Trading Company. It would be an insult to the understanding, as well as to the heart of* the reader, to suppose that any doubt can remain, as to the propriety of put- ting down the power of such an Association. — The question is, how to prevent the renewal of the same tyranny in other hands. It appears that the British Government acted on mistaken views when the old system, of the French was abolished. — It would be advisable that we should retrace our steps, and re-establish that system, with such modi- fications as may adapt it to the principles of our own govern..-^nt. For this purpose, let the whole extent of Indian territory, (from the boundaries of the townships which are laid out for settlements in Upper and Lower Canada, to the extremity of the British dominions) be divided into districts of a con- venient extent. Let the Hudson's Bay C nupany be confined within the bounds of t! - property legally vested in them. Let the r 'St of the Indian districts be leased for a period of years nearly in the manner which is now practised as to the district of Lower Canada called the " King's Posts," — assigning to the lessees the exclusive trade of their respective districts, together with ' «y other emoluments that can be derived I r' !< ii a Ii M ii 128 from the paramount rights of landed pro« perty during the period of their lease^ but under such regulations as may protect the Indian natives from oppression, and preclude them from the use of spirituous liquors which has proved the greatest bane to their improve- ment. ... The rents of the districts within Lower and Upper Cr.nada ou^ht to be added to the rest of the revenue oi ' jj two provinces. The revenue derived froii the remote districts of Athabasca, and other parts which have no immediate or natural connection with Ca- nada, may form a separate fund, applicable to the protection and improvement of these respective districts. Two-thirds of the rent might perhaps be appropriated to defray the expense of a small corps of fencibles, or militia, to be raised for the special purpose of mamtaining the police of these remote pos- sessions, supporting the rights of the lessees, and defending the country from any maraud- ing attack to which it may be exposed. The remainder of the fund might be applied to defray the expense of missionaries, to be sta- tioned among the Indians, not only for their religious and moral improvement, but to com- bine this object with their instruction in agri- culture and the domestic arts, and to watch ro- ]ut he de Ich re- eypry ppjpprtunity of exciting amopg tl^^m.a |spii]it of industry. These missionaries w^uld ^orin a check againstjany attejmpt, on the part of the lessees, to, tyrannize over, or to deprive the Indians of the rights reseryed to tjheni. In the mode of letting the leases, it niisht be advisable tp depart ifroin the example of the King's Ppsts, and, instead ^of public auc- tion, to adopt the method of sealed offers, ^eqviiqng that ey^ry tender shall specify the wjiejle of, ^he partpei^concerned,in making it, so that the persons ,to whom the .different offers are referred, may have an opportunity of rejecting any that come from traders of a notoriously bad character. The lessees may be made to understand, that any marked instance of misconduct would be a ground of exclusion on any future occasion. This would have an important effect in putting a restraint on their behaviour, more particularly as they wo\ild naturally expect rival traders to be on the watch, to note every instance of misconduct, and take advantage of it at the expiration of the leases. With these measures it would be necessary to combine a complete revision of the Act of 1803, and the establishment of a system better adapted for the fair and effectual administra- tion of justice. The basis ought to be laid w 'iC 150 ^N- \u Xv in the establishment of a resident local ma- gistracy in the hands of the lessees, and the missionaries, who may be authorised to deter- mine immediately, and on the spot, all ques- tions of small consequence, combining this system with an arrangement for bringing the more important causes (such as may arise between the lessees of different districts), as speedily and directly as possible, to the great and pure fountain of English Law at West- minster, without passing through the muddy channel of colonial judicature. ,f ■ ' ^'.;',>; ..v. i,' , *;,:■', ; :H i'l ;'i:l..?';; <^ t'.i' 'Sij ■' f <'?•»■,"«> ._ . ,* '■ < n,>. . r'; '' ■ I ■'■»(..■- .;^; ' ,,I.'''ii" n i: . .! -■' ;;■) FIMI8. '■ ) r I J \ ' .!•• ' . ■ ■ , ; ' * ' ^i '5 . 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