I Had Many Interviews; And On The 17th March, 1863, I Met The Governor,
Mr. Ellice, Jun.
(Son of Edward Ellice-the "old bear"), Mr. Matheson
and Mr. Maynard.
They showed me a number of schedules, which they
called "accounts." Next day I had a long private interview with Mr.
Maynard, but "could not see the 'balance-sheet.'" The same day I saw
the Duke with Messrs. Glyn and Benson. Next day (19th) I spent the
forenoon with Mr. Roberts, the accountant, and his son and assistant,
at the Hudson's Bay House. Mr. Roberts told me many odd things; one was
that the Company had had a freehold farm on the site of the present
city of San Francisco of 1,000 acres, and sold it just before the gold
discoveries for 1,000l., because two factors quarrelled over it.
I learnt a great deal of the inside of the affair, and got some
glimpses of the competing "North West" Company, amalgamated by Mr.
Edward Ellice, its chief mover, many years agone with the Hudson's Bay
Company. Pointing to some boxes in his private room one day, Mr.
Maynard said: "There are years of Chancery in those boxes, if anyone
else had them." And he more than once quoted a phrase of the "old
bear": "My fortune came late in life."
On the 8th May I went to see the Duke. He was very ill; but his
interest in the Hudson's Bay purchase was unabated. I saw him again on
the 15th, and wrote a letter to the Hudson's Bay Company. On the 19th
Mr. Maynard told me that the Hudson's Bay Court were meeting that day
to reply to my letter. The reply came on the 21st, and was "nearly what
we wished."
Owing to the Duke's illness, and to some secret difficulty which he
never enlightened me upon, I was given to understand, after a short,
but anxious delay, that any purchase must be carried out by private
resources; but all sorts of moral support would be at our service. What
good was moral support in providing a million and a half? What was to
be done? There were only two ways: one, to make a list of fifteen
persons who would each take a "line" of a hundred thousand pounds for
himself and such friends as he chose to associate with him; the other,
to hand the proposed purchase over to the just founded International
Financial Association, who were looking out for some important project
to lay before the public.
Leaving out Mr. Baring and Mr. Glyn (senr.) we had a strong body of
earnest friends, substantial men, and we could, no doubt, have
underwritten the amount. My proportion was got ready; and my personal
friends would have doubled that proportion, or more, if I had wanted
it. I strongly recommended this course. But the Hudson's Bay Company
would give no credit. We must take up the shares as presented and pay
for them over the counter. Thus, the latter alternative was, after some
anxious days, adopted. Mr. Richard Potter was the able negociator in
completing this great transaction, began and carried on as above. The
shares were taken over and paid for by the International Financial
Society, who issued new stock to the public to an amount which covered
a large provision of new capital for extension of business by the
Company, and a profit to themselves and their friends who had taken the
risk of so new and onerous an engagement.
I may finish this section by stating that, as respects the new Hudson's
Bay shareholders, their 20l. shares have been reduced by returns
of capital to 13l., and having, nevertheless, in the "boom" of
lands in the West, been sold at 37l. as the price of the
13l.; they are now about 24l. Thus, every one who has
held his property, and will continue to hold it, has, and will have, a
safe and unusually profitable investment. These shareholders, besides
the large reserves near their posts, which I shall enumerate later on,
have a claim to one-twentieth of the land where settlements are
surveyed and made. This gives a great future to the investor. On the
other hand, Canada - in place of the Mother Country, to whom the whole
ought to have belonged, for the purposes previously set forth - has
obtained this vast and priceless dominion for a payment of only
300,000l., on the award of Earl Granville; and the Pacific
Railway, by reason of that great possession, has been completed and
opened.
But there is much to record between the period of purchase and the sale
to Canada.
I here give to the reader some letters of the Duke's relating to these
negotiations generally: -
"DOWNING STREET,
"14 Augt. 1862.
"MY DEAR SIR,
"I am glad to tell you that since I received your letter of Saturday
last, the Hudson's Bay Company has replied to my communication, and has
promised to grant land to a company formed under such auspices
as those with whom I placed them in communication. The question now
is - what breadth of land they will give, for of course they
propose to include the whole length of the line through their
territory. A copy of the reply shall be sent to Mr. Baring, and I hope
you and he will be able to bring this concession to some practical
issue.
"I was quite aware of the willingness of the Company to sell
their whole rights for some such sum as 1,500,000l. I
ascertained the fact two months ago, and alluded to it in the House of
Lords in my reply to a motion by Lord Donoughmore. I cannot, however,
view the proposal in so favourable a light as you do. There would be no
immediate or direct return to show for this large outlay, for of
course the trade monopoly must cease, and the sale of land would for
some time bring in little or nothing - certainly not enough to pay for
the government of the country.
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