Their average rate
of travelling is about fifteen miles a day, and they generally secure
game enough on the way for their living.
I have had highly interesting
accounts of the Red River settlement since I have been here, both from
Mr. Ross and Mr. Marion, gentlemen recently from there. The settlement
is seventy miles north of Pembina, and lies on both sides of the
river. Its population is estimated at 10,000. It owes its origin and
growth to the enterprise and success of the Hudson's Bay Company. Many
of the settlers came from Scotland, but the most were from Canada.
They speak English and Canadian French. The English style of society
is well kept up, whether we regard the church with its bishop, the
trader with his wine cellar, the scholar with his library, the officer
with his sinecure, or their paper currency. I find they have
everything but a hotel, for I was particular on that point, though not
intending just yet to go there. Probably the arrivals do not justify
such an institution, but their cordial hospitality will make up for
any such lack, from all I hear. They have a judge who gets a good
house to live in, and L1000 sterling a year; but he has nothing of
consequence to do. He was formerly a leading lawyer in Canada.
The great business of the settlement, of course, is the fur traffic.
An immense amount of buffalo skins is taken in the summer and autumn,
while in the winter smaller but more valuable furs are procured. The
Indians also enlist in the hunts; and it is estimated that upwards of
$200,000 worth of furs are annually taken from our territory and sold
to the Hudson's Bay Company. It is high time indeed that a military
post should be established somewhere on the Red River by our
government. The Hudson's Bay Company is now a powerful monopoly. Not
so magnificent and potent as the East India Company, it is still a
powerful combination, showering opulence on its members, and
reflecting a peculiar feature in the strength and grandeur of the
British empire a power, which, to use the eloquent language of
Daniel Webster, "has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with
her possessions and military posts whose morning drum-beat,
following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the
earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial music."
The company is growing richer every year, and its jurisdiction and its
lands will soon find an availability never dreamed of by its founders,
unless, as may possibly happen, popular sovereignty steps in to grasp
the fruits of its long apprenticeship. Some time ago I believe the
Canadas sought to annex this broad expanse to their own jurisdiction.
There are about two hundred members in the Hudson's Bay Company. The
charter gives them the power to legislate for the settlement. They
have many persons in their employ in England as well as in British
America.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 46 of 97
Words from 23463 to 23971
of 50597
