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Title: Canada West and the Hudson's-Bay Company

Date of first publication: 1856

Author: Aborigines' Protection Society

Date first posted: Feb. 28, 2020

Date last updated: Feb. 28, 2020

Faded Page eBook #20200253

This eBook was produced by: Al Haines

This file was produced from images generously made available by https://archive.org/details/cihm_22598/page/n5/mode/2up

CANADA WEST

AND THE

HUDSON'S-BAY COMPANY:

A POLITICAL AND HUMANE QUESTION
OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO THE HONOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN,
TO THE PROSPERITY OF CANADA,
AND TO THE EXISTENCE OF THE NATIVE TRIBES;

BEING AN

ADDRESS

TO THE

RIGHT HONORABLE HENRY LABOUCHERE,

HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR THE COLONIES.

PRESENTED BY THE

ABORIGINES' PROTECTION SOCIETY.

WITH AN APPENDIX.

PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY BY
WILLIAM TWEEDIE,
337, STRAND.

1856.

INTRODUCTION.

In publishing the following Address to the Colonial Minister, the Committee of the Aborigines' Protection Society must emphatically assert that it has no interested motive to induce it to take a course which seems opposed to the Hudson's-Bay Company.

The Society has taken up the question as one of humanity affecting an interesting and deeply-injured race. It has pressed it with the growing conviction that it was obeying the call of duty; and, as it has proceeded, it has met with the strongest evidence, that not merely the rights of the undefended Aborigines, but the national and commercial interests of this country and those of Canada, ever growing in importance, imperatively demand attention to the facts and considerations which are briefly glanced at in this Address.

All political parties are now agreed as to the universal benefits of free trade and free communication. Why are these to be withheld, to general injury, and sacrificed to the impolitic desires of a Company, which has long betrayed the trust confided to it, and retarded the progress of civilization and religion?

The Committee has gratefully to acknowledge that the address was patiently and attentively heard by the Colonial Secretary, who, with great politeness and interest, conversed on several of the points to which it refers.

MEMORIAL

TO THE

RIGHT HONORABLE HENRY LABOUCHERE,

HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR THE COLONIES:

WITH AN APPENDIX.

The Committee of the Aborigines' Protection Society, on behalf of the Society which they represent, beg to draw the attention of Her Majesty's Government, and especially of Her Majesty's Secretary for the Colonies, to the peculiar circumstances in which the aboriginal inhabitants of British North America are at present placed, and which they believe both call for immediate action on the part of Her Majesty's Government, and justify the course the former have taken in bringing those circumstances to its notice.

These are—

1. That throughout the entire territory west of the Great Lakes the boundary is still unsettled.

2. That great displacements of the aboriginal population are at the least imminent, if they are not now in progress; and

3. That the license of trade which gives to the Hudson's-Bay Company unlimited authority over the entire north-west portion of British North America must shortly be brought under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, as it expires in 1859.

These facts will be observable in three different areas, and from causes varying in each.

1. In the district of the Great Lakes. Even here the boundary is unsettled as between the Hudson's-Bay Company and Canada: it may be said both to the north and west.

The Indians inhabiting the country about Lake Superior, and, indeed, to the north-west of Lake Huron also, have, until very recently, considered themselves under the government of the Hudson's-Bay Company; but the frontier of Canada on the west extends, by admission, as far as the height of land between Lakes Superior and Winnipeg: the search for minerals is bringing the district about Lake Superior into general note in Canada; mining locations are being rapidly sold; and the Indian will be as rapidly driven from the shores of the lake: but whether he go to the north or west he can have no permanent settlement, but must remain a wanderer: he can treat neither with the Company nor the Canadian government; for, both to the north and west, the latter, or at least the Canadian people, declare their intention to extend their boundary to its ancient limits, which stretch far beyond those claimed by the Hudson's-Bay Company, both to the north and west. (See App. A.) Driven from their hunting and fishing grounds, nothing remains to the remnant of the ancient lords of the soil but their necessarily-resulting immediate and continued suffering, and ultimate extinction,—a result which we are sure Her Majesty's Government cannot contemplate without the deepest concern.

The remedies for these evils which naturally commend themselves in this, as in the other cases, are, the settlement of the boundary, the reservation of sufficient tracts, in fertile and convenient localities, for the domiciliation of the natives, together with their admission to the rights of citizenship.

It is true that the number of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Lake district is not great, and that they may possibly fade away from the earth without creating difficulties which must force their civilized brethren to acknowledge or take notice of their rights as members of the same great commonwealth. This, however, cannot be the case in the district to which we would next direct your attention.

2. About Lake Winnipeg, and in the valley of the Saskatchewan, are to be found, as your Memorialists apprehend, the seeds of future serious difficulties, not only to the Company which now stretches its irresponsible rule over them, but to the empire at large.

The ignorance or carelessness of those to whom was originally committed the settlement of the boundary between the territories of Great Britain and the United States, from the Great Lakes to the Pacific, not to mention other causes of scarcely less importance, led to the serious mistake of conceding the upper part of the Red River to the latter; and thus a door was opened for the intrusion of the citizens of the Union, and all the evils incident to border life far removed from the restraints of law and of public opinion. (See App. B.)

By that concession, also, the claim of the Hudson's-Bay Company, under their charter, to that territory, a portion of which they had already sold to Lord Selkirk, was ignored, and a precedent established, on which we have reason to believe the Canadians will not be slow to act, whenever an opportunity shall be afforded them; and by it, moreover, the titles under which a considerable native population, domiciliated there under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, at present hold farms under cultivation on that river, may hereafter be endangered. (See App. C.)

The population of the settlement, originally formed by Lord Selkirk, now increased to about eight thousand souls, the larger portion of whom is composed of half-breeds and others of Indian blood, to the amount, probably, of five-sixths of the whole, may therefore be considered as within the scope of the operations of our Society, and as claiming its advocacy. These people, unable, on account of the restrictive laws enforced by the Hudson's-Bay Company, to trade with Canada or with England, are for the most part disposed to seek help from the United States, should the opportunity offer: and for the same reason only, not from any disaffection to the British Government, as is well known, they, at the time of the dispute respecting the Oregon territory, sent a petition to Congress to be admitted under the protection of the Union, with the citizens of which, from the circumstance already noted, they had been brought into early and immediate contact. (See App. D.)

From connexion and similarity of interests the people of the Red-River Settlement have also acquired considerable influence over the Indians of the plains, who, suffering perhaps even more from the monopoly of trade exercised by the Company, have the usual feelings of slaves for their masters, and a spark only is wanting to kindle a conflagration here: but this is not all.

The gradual but steady progress of the settlements to the west of the Mississippi and up the valley of the Missouri; the now constant traffic across the southern pass to California and Oregon; the opening of other paths, which must necessarily follow the recent surveys of the United-States' Government, to the north; as they have already resulted in the collection of the warlike equestrian tribes in the valleys and plains of the sources and about the affluents of the Missouri, so they must ultimately result in the displacement of some of these, and their irruption into the valley of the Saskatchewan, i.e. from the territories of the United States to those of Great Britain; and although the Hudson's-Bay Company have, from prudential reasons, for a long time vacated the valley of the southern Saskatchewan, (notwithstanding it must be esteemed the finest portion of the territories claimed by them, as well as that through which the best route to the valley of the Columbia will be found,) yet the displacement alluded to must necessarily produce collision between the tribes driven from the valley of the Missouri and those under the rule of the Company, and of course, therefore, with the Company also. Recent events in Oregon, where, as is well known, similar displacements have occurred, and where settlements, established under the auspices of the Company, have sought for and obtained the protection of the United States (See App. E), and been transferred to their government, resulting, as they have done, in a war of extermination with the natives, more than justify the most serious anticipations of evil in this quarter.

It appears to your Memorialists that the territory in question is most peculiarly suited for a refuge for the Aborigines, and might well be reserved for that purpose; but, to make it a safe one, the international boundary must be definitively marked out, and not left as at present, dependent on astronomical observations; sufficient power must be maintained to secure the predominance of law and order; and the means of civilization and conversion must be provided for the natives; nor must their political organization be forgotten, for experience teaches us, that without this the other advantages may fail of their full realization. (See App. F.)

We are glad to observe that the first of these requirements is acknowledged and sought by the Government of the United States as of national importance, President Pierce, in his address this year, having alluded very pointedly to the necessity for a joint commission being appointed to run the boundary line. For the others we must express our opinion that no Government can abandon its responsibilities in such matters because of the distance of the spot in question from the centre of their operations, or the difficulties which may seem to interpose.

We may, however, remark, that the difficulties of such an undertaking are usually much exaggerated; and that the opening of the navigation of Lake Superior has brought the district in question as near of access from our shipping, as that which may now be esteemed the seaboard of the continent, viz. the shore of Lake Superior, was, within the memory of some of us. (See App. G.)

3. In the district to the west of the Rocky Mountains difficulties increase rather than diminish. With an extensive area, it has but a comparatively short coast line, and, moreover, the principal outlet of the country, the northern branch of the Columbia, leads to the territory of the United States.

It is to be remarked, also, of this district, that its natural limit southward, i.e. the southern water-shed of the Columbia, is not, as in the former case, near the line selected as the boundary, but far within the limit of the United States (See App. H); that, therefore, whatever probabilities there are of displacements and consequent collision to the east, must be manifestly increased and become more imminent towards the west, and specially so because the influence of the Hudson's-Bay Company, though it no longer extends, as that of the North-West Company formerly did, into the valley of the Mississippi, yet has been, until the treaty of 1848, dominant in the west as low down as California; and to this day, as has recently been proved, the Company exercise a paramount influence over the Indians, even within the territories of the Union. And although it has been asserted that this influence has been exercised for good, yet your Memorialists believe, that had the influence of the Company, as such, been beneficial to the moral or mental developement of the natives, their progress in civilization would have sufficed to prevent the state of things which precipitated the collision, and made the interference of the Company necessary as between the natives and the people of the United States. Indeed, your Memorialists esteem it impossible that a trading company, possessed of irresponsible power, and whose European servants are, from the circumstances of their position, necessarily precluded from intermarrying with those of their own race, and are shut out from the means of mental and moral improvement, from the habits of civilized society, and the ordinances of religion and are, at the same time in the exercise of irresistible and irresponsible power, can exercise a good moral influence over uncivilized man. (See App. I.)

On the west coast the case is even worse than in the interior; for while the exclusive right of trade exercised by the Hudson's-Bay Company keeps off from the coast all British vessels, those of the United States trade there with the natives, without let or hindrance, and, in consequence, spirits and firearms are ordinary articles of barter, and the fierce passions of savage life are developing and increasing, instead of being subdued under the influences of civilization and religion.

Nor is this state of things improved in the so-called colony of Vancouver's Island; for there, in addition to the evils which press on the Aborigines in every place under the sway of the Hudson's-Bay Company, their property in land has been alienated, not only without equivalent, but without acknowledgment by the Charter of the colony; the mineral wealth, now no longer matter of dispute or uncertainty, but acknowledged to be of paramount importance to the opening the trade of the Pacific, has been given also into the hands of the Company; while the discontent and disaffection here as elsewhere rife among the European settlers under the Company's Government leave the evils under which the natives suffer without mitigation.

We therefore, on behalf of the Aborigines' Protection Society, beg most earnestly to request your attention and that of Her Majesty's Government, to the condition of the Indians in these parts of British North America, with reference,

1. To the settlement of the boundaries.

2. To the reservation of sufficient tracts for the location of the natives.

3. To the political organization, and the appointment of proper officers, with sufficient powers for the establishment of order and the protection of the natives.

4. To the preservation of the natural rights of the Indians when the license of trade of the Hudson's-Bay Company and the Charter of Vancouver's Island come before Her Majesty's Government for renewal; and,

Lastly, for the establishment of schools for their mental instruction and industrial training, and the appointment of teachers and ministers of religion.

The first three of these involve questions which, on the present occasion, it might be impertinent in us to raise; but with respect to the two latter, we cannot forbear to remind you, that no people have shewn themselves more susceptible of attachment to the British Government; while few have greater capacity for the reception of the influences of civilization and religion than the aboriginal inhabitants of British North America. Of this too many proofs are extant to need recapitulation, and yet no general and systematic effort has ever been made to this end: the mind of their great mother has not been opened unto them, if her face has not been turned away from them: they have, in short, hitherto been losers, and not gainers, by their connexion with this country. But it would, your Memorialists believe, be as much in accordance with the personal feelings of our gracious Queen, as with the natural characteristics of her sex, that her reign should be signalized by some effort in this direction and to this end, to which the present state of peace and prosperity throughout the empire also invites.

The union of the British with the Indian race appears to us to afford ready and efficient means. There are many half-breeds and others of Indian descent whose mental culture does no discredit to the land of their fathers, but whose sympathies and affections are with their native soil and the race of their mothers. (See App. K.) To these, and others whom they might train, the work of regeneration may well be committed: nor should, as your Memorialists think, the pecuniary means be denied, when it is remembered, that, by the industry of the natives of the territories under the government of the Hudson's-Bay Company, it is estimated that 20,000,000l. sterling has been added to the wealth of this country; that in the district of Lake Superior, as well as on the west coast, enormous deposits of copper; and on the Saskatchewan, and on the west coast also, most valuable beds of coal; to say nothing of the fisheries, timber, and land, naturally the property of the Aborigines, are enriching and will enrich the British race. Nor can your Memorialists entertain a doubt that the duty, now generally recognised as incumbent on every landed proprietor, to promote the education and improvement of the people on his estate, must be equally so on those who are de facto, if not de jure, proprietors of estates larger than the civilized part of Europe; or that, as in the one case so in the other, failing the performance of that duty by them, the responsibility devolves on the Government by whose authority their rights and property are maintained.

APPENDIX (A).

Extracts from the "Montreal Gazette," April 26, 1856.

A Correspondent of the journal writes as follows:

"First I shall proceed to shew, that however legal the Charter of the Company from Charles II. may be, and however wide an interpretation of its provisions may be assented to in favour of that body, the Company have no right to cut Canada off from this magnificent country, stretching along the valley of the Saskatchewan to the sources of that river in the Rocky Mountains; that they have been guilty of great cunning and injustice, as well as of much presumption, in forbidding the enterprise and industry of the province to penetrate beyond the vicinity of Lake Superior; and that, even according to the extravagant pretensions of the Company, they have no legal territorial right beyond the country in the immediate vicinity of Hudson's Bay. As the Company appear to rest their claim under the Charter of Charles II. so much on the topography and hydrography of the country, it is very advisable that Canada should not rest satisfied with the accounts put forward upon those heads by the Company, but that she should appoint competent persons to make thorough explorations of those districts to which she can prefer a fair claim. * * * In their eagerness to grasp for more than even their above-mentioned extravagant claim would give them, the Company attempt to wall in Canada within a short distance of the St. Lawrence (into which they would willingly drive her at the moment), by a height of land which, in the neighbourhood of Lake Superior, they place at a distance of from 30 to about 100 miles of the St. Lawrence, thus narrowing the province in this direction to a most insignificant breadth. There is no height of land extending in an unbroken course north and west of Lake Superior where the Hudson's-Bay Company have placed one."

It is obviously no less important to the future interests of Canada, now so happily and prosperously developing herself, that she should look well to her Western territories, than it is to the United States to attend to theirs. But if the present system be maintained, it will be obviously impossible to restrain a growing and enterprising population of United States citizens on their own side of the boundary, when there are abundant rich yet waste lands to tempt them immediately beyond it. First, a squatting occupation, and then annexation, are the inevitable consequences. We must not expect the American Government to prevent or check this. The only way is for the British and Canadian Governments to anticipate the process, and prevent it by wise measures; and in this case, as humanity and policy are not at variance, but on the same side, there is reason to hope for some improvement in our treatment of the Indians.

APPENDIX (B).

The boundary question will be found ably discussed in Fitzgerald's work, "The Hudson's-Bay Company and Vancouver's Island." It may, however, be well to note here, that, under their interpretation of the Charter, the Company granted 16,000 square miles to Lord Selkirk on the Red River, in 1812, but that subsequently the larger portion of this grant was admitted, by the Treaty of 1818, to be within the territory of the United States. Nor was this done in ignorance; for Mr. Gillivray, writing to the Colonial Minister in 1815, on behalf of the Company, says—"The settlers, by proceeding up beyond the forks of the Red River, have got to the southward of latitude 49 degrees; so that, if the line due west from the Lake of the Woods is to be the boundary with the United States of America, Lord Selkirk's colony will not be a British, but an American settlement, unless specially excepted in the adjustment of the boundary." Accordingly, Pembina Fort, settled by Lord Selkirk, is now the military station on the boundary of the Government of the Union.

APPENDIX (C).

"The Indians who have been converted to the Protestant religion are settled around their respected pastor, at the lower extremity of the settlement, within twenty miles of the mouth of the river..... They have their mills, and barns, and dwelling-houses; their horses, and cattle, and well-cultivated fields. A happy change! A few years ago these name Indians were a wretched, vagabond race, 'hewers of wood and drawers of water' for the other settlers, as their pagan brethren still are; they wandered about from house to house, half-starved and half-naked, and even in this state of abject misery preferring a glass of 'fire-water' to food and raiment for themselves or their children."—M'Lean's "Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Service in the Hudson's-Bay Territory," vol. ii. pp. 303, 304.

APPENDIX (D).

In 1812, British subjects were, by an Act of the legislature of the United States, precluded from hunting within the territories of the Union. Some of the inhabitants of the Red-River Settlement in consequence turned their attention to trade. Mr. James Sinclair sent, in one of the Company's vessels, a small quantity of tallow to London as an experiment. It proved remunerative, and the next year he sent a much larger venture, but this was not allowed to be taken. In the interim, however, application was made to the Company by other settlers, for permission to export tallow at moderate freights; but to this no answer was returned. Subsequently the Company found it necessary to legislate on the subject. From the Minutes of Council on this subject, published June 10, 1845, and from a letter of the Governor of the country, in answer to the application of certain half-breeds to have their position with respect to hunting and trading defined—all of which documents will be found given in extenso in Fitzgerald's "Hudson's-Bay Company and Vancouver's Island"—we learn that it is the fundamental law of the country that no settler should trade in furs. This is as if the Government of Australia should declare that no settler should trade in gold.

Further, that while, once in every year, settlers are permitted, at their own risk, to import stores, fur traffickers are excluded from this privilege, but that, even for this, a licence is required; and, moreover, that while imports to the amount of 50l. are permitted, they must be purchased only with certain specified productions or manufactures of the settlement, carried away the same season: but this privilege is only conceded to those who may have personally accompanied both exports and imports; so that all trade beyond what can be superintended personally by an individual is strictly forbidden. The land deed of the Company—also given by Fitzgerald—binds the purchaser of land not to infringe, either directly or indirectly, the exclusive rights, privileges, power of commerce, of or belonging, or anywise appertaining to, or held, used, or enjoyed by the Company; that he will not carry on or establish a trade or traffic in or relating to any kind of skins, furs, peltry, or dressed leather, in any part of North America.

The freight charged by the Company from London to York Factory on Hudson's Bay, on articles imported in their ships by settlers at Red River, is about equal to the customary charge from London to Canton.

Can we wonder that the settlers sigh for free trade?

"A single Scotch farmer," says M'Lean, "could be found in the colony able alone to supply the greater part of the produce the Company require: there is one, in fact, who offered to do it. If a sure market were secured to the colonists of Red River, they would speedily become the wealthiest yeomanry in the world. Their barns and granaries are always full to overflowing..... The Company purchase from six to eight bushels of wheat from each farmer, at the rate of three shillings per bushel; and the sum total of their yearly purchases from the whole settlement amounts to 600 cwts. flour, first and second qualities; 35 bushels rough barley; 10 half-firkins butter, 28 pounds each; 10 bushels Indian corn; 200 cwt. best kiln-dried flour; 60 firkins butter, 56 pounds each; 240 pounds cheese; 60 hams..... Where he (the Red-River farmer) finds a sure market for the remainder of his produce, heaven only knows, I do not. This much, however, I do know, that the incomparable advantages this delightful country possesses are not only, in a great measure, lost to the inhabitants, but also to the world, so long as it remains under the dominion of its fur-trading rulers."—"Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Service in the Hudson's-Bay Service," by John M'Lean, vol. ii. pp. 308, 309.

APPENDIX (E).

Mr. Fitzgerald says—"There are many, and those well acquainted with the country itself, who assert that the conduct and policy of the Hudson's-Bay Company in the Oregon territory formed the chief part of the title which the United States had to the country, which was gratuitously given to her by the settlement of the boundary. What the United States owe to the Company for its policy on the west side of the Rocky Mountains is a question to which the English public will some day demand a satisfactory answer. But it is right that the public should know what the Company are charged with having done in those parts. Dr. M'Laughlin was formerly an agent in the North-west Company of Montreal. He was one of the most enterprising and active in conducting the war between that association and the Hudson's-Bay Company. In the year 1821 he became a factor of the Hudson's-Bay Company; but his allegiance does not appear to have been disposed of along with his interests, and his sympathy with any thing other than British seems to have done justice to his birth and education, which were those of a French Canadian. This gentleman was appointed governor of all the country west of the Rocky Mountains, and he is accused by those who have been in that country of having uniformly encouraged the emigration of settlers from the United States, and of having discouraged that of British subjects. While the Company in this country were asserting that their settlements on the Columbia River were giving validity to the claim of Great Britain to the Oregon territory, it appears that their chief officer on the spot was doing all in his power to facilitate the operations of those whose whole object was to annihilate that claim altogether."

Mr. Fitzgerald adds, "This much, at least, is certain, that Dr. M'Laughlin provided for himself a very large tract of land, on what title no one knows; that he formed a considerable farm on what was certain to become American territory; and that he encouraged the immigration of settlers from the United States, knowing that his own property would be thus raised in value. It is certain that he has now left the Hudson's-Bay Company, and has become nominally—what he seems to have been for years really—an American citizen living in the midst of an American population, which he collected around him upon soil to which he knew that his own country had all along laid claim."

Sir E. Belcher alludes to this policy. He says, in his "Narrative of a Voyage round the World," vol. i. p. 297—

"Some years since the Company determined on forming settlements on the rich lands situated on the Wallamette and other rivers, and for providing for their retired servants, by allotting them farms, and further aiding them by supplies of cattle. That on the Wallamette was too inviting a field for Missionary enthusiasm to overlook; but instead of selecting a British subject to afford them spiritual assistance, recourse was had to the Americans; a course pregnant with evil consequences, and particularly in the political squabbles pending (this was written in 1843), as will be seen by the result. No sooner had the American and his allies fairly squatted—which they deem taking possession of a country—than they invited their brethren to join them, and called on the American Government for laws and protection."

Mr. Dunn, also a retired servant of the Company, thus describes his experiences on this subject—

"While I was stationed at Vancouver, and in the detached forts, and in the trading ships, the excessively benevolent encouragement granted by the Governor to the new importation of American residents, under the designation of American settlers, used to be freely discussed. There were two parties—the patriot and the liberal..... The British patriots maintained that the Governor was too chivalrously generous; that his generosity was thrown away, and would be badly requited; that he was nurturing a race of men who would by-and-bye rise from their meek and humble position, as the grateful acknowledgers of his kindness, into the bold attitude of questioners of his own authority, and the British right to Vancouver itself. This party grounded their arguments on an appeal to the conduct and character of the Americans whom they had seen, especially the free-trappers; and the remnants of the American companies which still dodged about in the country..... They also maintained that the (American) Missionaries should be Missionaries in reality—men looking to the successful termination of their labours as their principal reward—men above the imputation or suspicion of being guided by self-interest in their exertions—men who would not squat as permanent and fixed husbandmen, and occasional traffickers in skins of animals among the natives: but that they should be bonâ fide pastors of the Christian church—going about in the true spirit of primitive Christianity—instructing the people in the cardinal doctrines of our religion, and in the arts of civilised life." Mr. Dunn, in epitomizing the arguments of the liberal or opposing party, says they argued that "though the Missionaries were none of the host class, yet they were better than none at all, especially when England so grossly neglected the natives. Dr. M'Laughlin may have acted indiscreetly, but he acted justly, in sanctioning these emigrants..... But above all, good would grow out of evil in the end; for the Americans, by their intercourse with the British, would become more humanised, tolerant, and honest. Hence, they said, it was philosophical and liberal to encourage the American Missionary squatters..... But I must confess (continues Mr. Dunn) that though in the whole range of dispute the patriot party were the victors, yet on one point their antagonists had a clear advantage—the neglect of the conversion and civilisation of the natives on the part of the home government, and of the British and Foreign Missionary Society."—"History of the Oregon Territory," &c. pp. 170-182.

The result has been already described in the extract from Sir E. Belcher's work quoted above.

APPENDIX (F).

The political organization of the natives, and their admission to equal privileges with the whites, is more important to their civilization than may at first appear. They were originally excluded from the exercise of the franchise in the United States and in Canada; and now, although legally they may have a right to it, practically they are excluded from its exercise.

It is a question to which we have not yet obtained a satisfactory answer, whether the aboriginal inhabitants, domiciliated and settled on reserves, can exercise the elective franchise. Had they been represented in the Colonial Legislature, the encroachments on their land, from which they have in so many cases suffered, would not have been made.—See Mr. Buller's report, from which it appears that there were recently 3,000,000 of acres of fertile land which had been got from the natives by the Government, and re-sold at an advanced price on account of the improvements made by them upon it.

It appears, also, from the report of the Commissioners of Inquiry upon the Indians of Canada, that they are (were?) disabled by the colonial laws to appear in courts of justice, singly or as tribes, which alone would go far from preventing them from ever becoming civilized.

APPENDIX (G).

This is no exaggeration. Vessels of 400 tons can, by means of canals, reach Lake Huron; vessels of 250 tons, or steamers of the same draught, can go from thence to Lake Superior: so that the west shores of Lake Superior are more accessible now than Lake Ontario was thirty years since. There is nothing to prevent an uninterrupted line of communication being opened by water to the base of the rocky mountains.—See Synge's "Great Britain one Empire."

APPENDIX (H).

Of all boundary lines an astronomical one is the most absurd. In App. A we have already shown the consequences of this absurdity at Red River; and without noticing similar consequences in the east, it may here be noted, as more relevant to the present subject that the present boundary, the 49° parallel north latitude does, so far as is known, give the heads of all streams falling into the Missouri from the north to Great Britain, as it does the head of Red River and the southern Saskatchewan, which flow into Lake Winnipeg, to the United States: it probably cuts the middle course of the Okanagan on the west of the Rocky Mountains in two places, thus separating its central from its upper and lower course, and gives the land to the south of the mouth of Frazer's River also to the United States.

The natural boundary to the east is the watershed between the affluents of the Missouri and the Saskatchewan, while on the west a conventional one was necessary. If any part of the valley of the Columbia wore to be conceded to the United States, a worse line than the present could scarcely have been found. It appears to have been decided in consequence of the opinion of Captain Wilkes, of the American Navy, that wheat will not grow to the north of parallel 49°.

APPENDIX (I).

Sir John Richardson states that "the standard of exchange in all mercantile transactions with the natives is a beaver-skin, the relative value of which, as originally established by the traders, differs considerably from the present worth of the article it represents; but the Indians are averse to change. Three martens, eight musk-rats, or a single lynx or wolverine's skin, are equivalent to one beaver; a silver fox, white fox, or other, are reckoned two beavers; and a black fox or large black bear is equal to four: a mode of reckoning which has very little connection with the real value of those different furs in the European markets. Neither has any attention been paid to the original costs of European articles in fixing the tariff by which they are sold to the Indians. A coarse butcher's knife is one skin; a woollen blanket, or a fathom of coarse cloth, eight; and a fowling-piece fifteen."

Mr. Alexander Simpson, one of the Company's chief traders, makes the following striking admission. He says, "That body has assumed much credit for its discontinuance of the sale of spirituous liquors at its trading establishments; but I apprehend that in this matter it has both claimed and received more of praise than is its due. The issue of spirits has not been discontinued by it on principle; indeed, has not been discontinued at all where there is a possibility of diminution of trade through the Indians having the power to resent this deprivation of their accustomed and much-loved annual jollification, by carrying their furs to another market."

The following entries occur in Mr. Dunn's MS. journal—

"Sunday, March 11, 1832—It being Sunday, the Indians remained in their huts (perhaps) praying, or most likely singing over the rum they had traded with us on Saturday, making a great noise.

"Thursday, April 20—This has been a very fine day. A great many Indians on board, and we have traded a number of skins. They seem to like rum very much here. We have sold an immense quantity of molasses also.

"Friday, May 4—A few Indians on board with skins in the evening. They were all drunk. Went on shore; made a fire about eleven o'clock; being then all drunk, began firing upon one another.

"Saturday, June 30—The Indians are now bringing their blankets to trade, as their skins are all gone. They seem very fond of rum.

"Wednesday, July 11—This morning the chiefs had a grand feast among themselves. They traded a quantity of rum from us, singing during the day."

Sir John Richardson says: "Another practice may also be noticed, as showing the state of moral feeling .... amongst white residents of the fur countries. It was not very uncommon amongst the Canadian voyageurs for one woman to be common to, and maintained at the joint expense of, two men; nor for a voyageur to sell his wife, either for a season, or altogether, for a sum of money proportioned to her beauty and good qualities, but always inferior to the price of a team of dogs."—Vol. i. p. 167.

"A few days afterwards the natives began to make their appearance, and scenes of a revolting nature were of frequent occurrence. Rum and brandy flowed in streams, and dollars were scattered about as if they had been of no greater value than pebbles on the beach. The expenses incurred by both parties were very great; but while this lavish expenditure seriously affected the resources of the petty traders, the coffers of the Company were too liberally filled to be sensibly diminished by such an outlay. Nevertheless, the natives would not dispose of their furs until they reached the village."—M'Lean's "Notes," vol. i. p. 40.

"As to the instruction the natives receive from us, I am at a loss to know what it is, where imparted, and by whom given. 'A tale I could unfold.' But let it pass: certain it is, that neither our example nor our precept has had the effect of improving the morals or principles of the natives: they are neither more enlightened nor more civilised, by our endeavours, than if we had never appeared among them. The native interpreters even grow old in our service as ignorant of Christianity as the rudest savages who have never seen the face of a white man."—M'Lean, vol. ii. p. 209.

"Some years ago five Missionaries were sent out to the Hudson-Bay territory by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. After having laboured for some time in the territory, by a decision of the council, the rank of commissioned gentlemen, together with the usual allowances attached to that rank, was conferred on them..... The good fruits (of their labours) were soon apparent; in some parts of the country successful attempts were made to collect the natives; they were taught to cultivate the soil, to husband their produce, so as to render them less dependent on fortuitous circumstances for a living; they were taught to read and write, and to worship God 'in spirit and in truth,' and numbers were daily added to the church; when lo! it was discovered that the time devoted to religious exercises, and other duties arising out of the altered circumstances of the converts, was so much time lost to the fur hunt; and from the moment this discovery was made, no further encouragement was given to the innovators. Their labours were strictly confined to the stations they originally occupied, and every obstacle was thrown in the way of extending their missions."—M'Lean, vol. ii. pp. 210-212.

"In that winter (1836-37) a party of men, led by two clerks, was sent to look for some horses that were grazing at a considerable distance from the post. As they approached the spot they perceived a band of Assineboine Indians, eight in number (if I remember rightly), on an adjacent hill, who immediately joined them, and, delivering up their arms, encamped with them for the night. Next morning a court-martial was held by the two clerks and some of the men, to determine the punishment due to the Indians for having been found near the Company's horses, with the supposed intention of carrying them off. What was the decision of this mock court-martial? I shudder to relate that the whole band, after having given up their arms, and partaken of their hospitality, were condemned to death, and the sentence carried into execution on the spot: all were butchered in cold blood."—M'Lean, vol. ii. pp. 222, 223.

"The history of my career," says M'Lean, "may serve as a warning to those who may be disposed to enter the Hudson's-Bay Company's service. They may learn that, from the moment they embark in the Company's canoes at Luchine, or in their ships at Gravesend, they bid adieu to all that civilised man must value on earth..... They bid adieu to all the refinement and cultivation of civilised life, not unfrequently becoming semi-barbarians,—so altered in habits and sentiments, that they not only become attached to savage life, but eventually lose all relish for any other. I can give good authority for this. The Governor writing me last year regarding some of my acquaintances who had recently retired, observes—'They are comfortably settled, but apparently at a loss what to do with themselves; and sigh for the Indian country, the squaws, and skins, and savages.'"—Vol. ii. pp. 200, 201.

"That the Indiana wantonly destroy the game in years of deep snow is true enough; but the snow fell to as great depth before the advent of the whites as after, and the Indians were as prone to slaughter the animals then as now, yet game of every description abounded, and want was unknown. To what causes, then, are we to attribute the present scarcity? There can be but one answer—to the destruction of the animals which the prosecution of the fur trade involves. As the country becomes impoverished the Company reduce their outfits so as to ensure the same amount of profits, an object utterly beyond their reach, although economy is pushed to the extreme of parsimony; and thus, while the game becomes scarcer, and the poor natives require more ammunition to procure their living, their means of obtaining it, instead of being increased, are lessened.... The general outfits for the whole northern department amounted, in 1835, to 3l,000l., now (1845) it is reduced to 15,000l., of which one-third at least is absorbed by the stores at Red River settlement, and a considerable portion of the remainder by the officers and servants of the Company throughout the country. I do not believe that more than one-half of the outfit goes to the Indians. While the resources of the country are becoming yearly more and more exhausted, the question naturally suggests itself, What is to become of the natives when their lands can no longer furnish the means of subsistence? This is indeed a serious question, and well worthy of the earnest attention of the philanthropist. While Britain makes such strenuous exertions in favour of the sable bondsmen of Africa, and lavishes her millions to free them from the yoke, can nothing be done for the once noble but now degraded aborigines of America? Are they to be left to the tender mercies of the trader until famine and disease sweep them from the earth?" M'Lean. Vol. ii., pp. 266-269.

The territory granted to the Company by their Charter whatever might be its extent, was properly the colony of Rupert's Land. It will be seen, by the following extract from the instructions drawn up for the Colonial Office of Charles II., by whom that Charter was granted, what was expected from Governors of colonies with respect to the Aborigines—"Forasmuch as most of our colonies do border upon the Indians, and peace is not to be expected without due observance and preservation of justice to them, you are, in our name, to command all Governors that they at no time give any just provocation to any of the said Indians that are at peace with us," &c. "With respect to Indians who do desire to put themselves under our protection that they be received. That the Governors do always friendly seek to oblige them, That they do not only carefully protect and defend them from adversaries, but that they more especially take care that none of our own subjects, nor any of their servants, do any way harm them. And that if any shall dare to offer any violence to them in their persons, goods, or possessions, the said Governors do severely punish the said injuries agreeably to justice and right. And you are to consider how the Indians and slaves may be best instructed in and united to the Christian religion; it being both for the honour of the Crown and of the Protestant religion itself, that all persons within any of our territories, though never so remote, should be taught the knowledge of God, and be made acquainted with the mysteries of salvation."

It remains for the Company to shew why the colony of Rupert's Land should be exempt from the operation of these instructions.

APPENDIX (K).

"These half-breeds," says Fitzgerald, p. 243, "are not to be despised or neglected. They are a fine race of men, combining the ready intelligence, that quickness in acquiring knowledge, and the desire for improvement which belong to civilized men, with the endurance, the enterprise, the intolerance of oppression, the determination to revenge, which are peculiar to the savage. Through the half-breed race the means are open for civilizing the whole country by acting on the Indian families who are related to them. If there were any real desire on the part of the Company to do so, the Indians could, by the influence which might thus be brought to act upon them, be induced to leave their wandering life, and quit the precarious subsistence of the chase for the surer livelihood to be drawn from the cultivation of the soil. Without this, there can be no hope of reclaiming the Indians: by it, that result might be secured."

W. M. WATTS, CROWN COURT, TEMPLE BAR.

[The end of Canada West and the Hudson's-Bay Company by Aborigines' Protection Society]