Finally Lord Selkirk, In Virtue Of His Assumed Powers As A
Magistrate, Seized Mr. McGillivray, Of The North-West Company,
At Fort
William, at the head of Lake Superior, and the whole of his property.
The confusion and outrage became
So great that Canada became alarmed,
and a Mr. Coltman was sent up as Commissioner. Mr. Coltman reported,
and made a recommendation that, to restore peace and order, some
attempt should be made to unite the interests of the various fur
traders in the country. In the meantime the Hudson's Bay Company ceased
to pay dividends, and the other companies were almost bankrupt. At this
moment Mr. Ellice, by great tact, and force of will, succeeded in
uniting all the conflicting combinations; and from that time onwards
the fur trade has been carried on under the Charter of the Hudson's Bay
Company, extended by licenses, from time to time renewed, of exclusive
trade in the North-West and in the Pacific States, including
Vancouver's Island. Out of these fusions arose the Puget Sound Company,
created to utilise, cultivate, and colonise the Pacific territories,
over which licenses to trade had been given to the Hudson's Bay
Company.
The vigorous action of the united interests soon told upon the trade
and discipline of the vast area hunted and traded over. The Indians
were brought back to tea and water in place of rum and brandy; and
peace was restored, everywhere, between the white man and the red. The
epidemics of small pox, which had at times decimated whole tribes of
Indians, were got rid of by the introduction of vaccination.
Settlement, if only on a small scale, was encouraged by the security of
life and property.
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