II. An investigation into the nature and validity of the several grants contained in the Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, viz. : 1. The grant of the soil of Rupert's Land. 2. The grant of the right of exclusive trade throughout Rupert's Land. 3. The grant of the right of exclusive trade throughout the Indian Territories. 4. The mention which has been made of the Charter in Acts of Parliament, and in other public documents, as affecting its validity. III. The results of the Charter in the influence which it has exercised severally upon 1. The Mother Country. 2. The Native Indian population. 3. The Colonists and Settlers in the territories over which it extends. IV. The future prosperity of Vancouver's Island. V. Some concluding observations. I anticipate that a perusal of the following pages will leave upon the mind of the reader a strong suspicion that the representations which have been made, are neither fair nor true; and the conviction that a policy which tends to give any validity to the pretensions of the Hudson's Bay Company, or in any manner to strengthen and perpetuate its authority, is unwise and rash in the highest possible degree. At the same time, I am sure that all who have assisted in bringing the character and conduct of the Company under the notice of the public, will rejoice to see the suspicion under which they lie cleared away; that none would participate in that feeling more entirely than yourself. But in whatever manner the Company may be and shewn to have exercised their powers and privileges, the conclusion at which I have been compelled to arrive, by the investigations into which I have been led in the course of this work, will remain unchanged, viz., that the powers and privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company, are, for the most part, in direct opposition to the laws of this country. At a time when the attention of all thinking men is directed to the commercial and colonial policy of the empire, it is impossible that a Corporation can escape notice whose principles and conduct are diametrically opposed to those doctrines and theories which it seems to be the great task of our age to develope and to carry into action. Were the privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company unquestionable, it would still be a matter of doubt, whether the consistent working out of the principles of the age would not necessitate their extermination; especially as there are precedents for the resumption of such powers, from a multitude of companies of precisely a similar character, when those powers and privileges were found to be incompatible with the general weal; but if it can be shewn that these claims are altogether, and upon several distinct grounds, fictitious and illegal; and if, in addition, it can be established that the result of the exercise of such illegal power has been of serious detriment, both to this country and to the territories over which it extends, then I can see no reason why we should any longer tolerate a usurped and mischievous authority; or, why we should hesitate to put the countries now under its sway, upon a better social, commercial, and political system. Englishmen will ever contemplate with reluctance the overthrow of an ancient Corporation; but that feeling will scarcely quell their indignation upon learning the fraud which has been so long practised upon their country. I think it right to add, that I am not responsible for the truth of all that is here stated. The question is, in a great measure, one of authority, in which testimony must be taken for what it is worth; it is one, moreover, in which it is extremely difficult to arrive at any independent and unbiassed information. But this much is certain, that there is enough (and this, too, from the evidence of its own servants and agents), to cast a very strong suspicion upon the Company of having grossly abused its powers: there is enough to justify the demand, for a complete and impartial investigation into the proceedings of the Company: there is enough to condemn the attempt to invest it with additional powers. |