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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
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  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 20,000,000_l._ 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 50_l._ 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,000_l._, now
(1845) it is reduced to 15,000_l._, 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]