Thus, after a long and continuous period of inquiry and investigation -
a grave game of chess with the Hudson's Bay Company - many anxieties and
a great pecuniary risk, surmounted without the expected help of our
Government, the battle was won.
What now remained was to take care that
the Imperial objects, for which some of us had struggled, were not
sacrificed, to indifference in high places at home, or to possible
conflicts between the two Provinces in Canada; and to secure an
energetic management of the business of the fur trade and of land
development by the executive of the Company, whose 144 posts covered
the continent from Labrador to Sitka, Vancouver's Island, and San
Francisco.
It seemed to me that this latter business was of vital and pressing
importance. The Hudson's Bay factors, and traders were, in various
grades and degrees, partners in the annual trade or "outfit," under the
provisions of the "deed poll." This "deed poll" was the charter under
which the hardy officials worked and saved. Their charter had been
altered or varied over the long period since the date of the Royal
concession, in the twenty-second year of the reign of Charles the
Second. The deed poll in existence in 1863 provided that the profits of
the fur trade (less interest on capital employed in the trade, which
belonged to the stockholders who provided it) were to be divided into
100 parts, of which 60 parts belonged to the stockholders, and 40 to
the "wintering partners." The "wintering partners" were the "chief
factors" and the "chief traders." These 40 parts were again subdivided
into 85 shares; and each "chief factor" was entitled to two of such
shares, and each "chief trader" to one share. The clerks were paid by
salary, and only a person who had served as a clerk could be promoted
to a "chief tradership," and only a "chief trader" to a "chief
factorship." Thus all had a direct or remote partnership interest. On
retirement, an officer held his full interest for one year and half his
interest for the succeeding six years.
I had much apprehension that if the unexpected sale and transfer of the
share property, under terms and conditions in every sense unique, were
not frankly and explicitly explained, and under authority, alarm and
misconception would arise; while the news of the transfer would find
its way to distant regions in a distorted fashion, and through
unfriendly sources, long before the explanation and answer could
arrive. My fear, owing to bad management in London, was somewhat
realized, and I found that I had not rushed across the Atlantic, to
perform every service in my power to the undertaking, in June, 1863,
one moment too soon.
Then, having studied the "deed poll," I felt that, unless we made the
factors and traders partners in the whole enterprise - fur trade,
banking, telegraphs, lands, navigation of rivers - on generous terms, we
could not expect to elicit either their energies or their adhesion to a
new order of things.
Further, I saw no way to secure supervision and control over the
Fertile belt, and all around it, except by the construction, to begin
with, of a main line of telegraph from St. Paul to the Hudson's Bay
territory, and thence by Fort Garry to the extreme western post on the
east side of the Rocky Mountains. Such main line to be supplemented by
other subsidiary lines as rapidly as possible. The "wire," to my mind,
was the best "master's eye" under the circumstances. But, apart from
business re-organization, it was most essential to explain everything
to the Government of Canada; and to ascertain the views of political
parties, and of industrial interests, as, also, of religious bodies, as
to future government. In dealing with these questions, I had to assume
an authority which was to have been confided to a delegation, to
consist of Captain Henry Glyn, Colonel Synge, and myself.
On leaving England promptly - the main work being done - Mr. Richard
Potter undertook for me all the details which, if at home, I should
have managed, and he especially took up the discussions at the Colonial
Office, which I had personally carried on, with the Duke, for the
previous period.
Thus it was that the new Board was constituted, and the arrangements
for taking over were made in England without my taking any, further,
part. Sir Edmund Head was appointed Governor at the suggestion - almost
the personal request - of the Duke of Newcastle: some members of the old
Board were retained for the, expected, value of their experience, and
amongst the new members were Mr. Richard Potter and Sir Curtis Miranda
Lampson, a rival fur trader of eminence and knowledge, and an American.
A seat at the Board was left vacant for me.
It may be interesting here to quote what the Duke of Newcastle said, in
explaining, in the House of Lords, the recent transactions with the
Hudson's Bay Company.
TIMES, July 3, 1863. [HOUSE OF LORDS.]
"The DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, in moving the second reading of the British
Columbia Boundaries Bill, said that he should give some further
information as to an extension of the means of communication across
that great interval of country between British Columbia and Canada.
After referring to the system of government which then existed both in
Vancouver's Island and British Columbia, and to the revenues of both
colonies for the previous few years - that of British Columbia being
most remarkable, having nearly doubled itself in two years (the imports
in 1861 being $1,400,000, and in 1862 $2,200,000) - the noble Duke
proceeded to say, that the greatest impediment to the future prosperity
of the Colony was a want of communication with the outer world. He had
stated on a previous occasion that he hoped to be able to state this
year to the House that arrangements had been made to complete the
communications between the Colony and the east of British North
America, and he thought he could now inform their Lordships that such
arrangements would be carried out.
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