A Canadian,
Captain Berger, States That In The Beginning Of June, 1685, "He And His
Crew Ascended Four Leagues Above The English In Hudson's Bay, Where They
Made A Small Settlement.
On the 15th of July they set out to return to
Quebec.
On the 17th they met with a vessel of ten or twelve guns, commanded
by Captain Oslar, on board of which was the man named Bridgar, the
Governor, who was going to relieve the Governor at the head of the Bay. He
is the same that Radisson brought to Quebec three years ago in the ship
Monsieur de la Barre restored to him. Berger also says he asked a parley
with the captain of Mr Bridgar's bark, who told him that Radisson had gone
with Mr Chouart, his nephew, fifteen days ago, to winter in the River Santa
Theresa, where they wintered a year." [Footnote: New York Colonial
Documents, Vol. IX.]
After this date the English and the French frequently came into hostile
collision in Hudson's Bay. In 1686 King James demanded satisfaction from
France for losses inflicted upon the Company. Then the Jesuits procured
neutrality for America, and knew by that time they were in possession of
Fort Albany. In 1687 the French took the "Hayes" sloop, an infraction of
the treaty. In 1688 they took three ships, valued, in all, at L. 15,000; L.
113,000 damage in time of peace. In 1692 the Company set out four ships to
recover Fort Albany, taken in 1686. In 1694 the French took York, alias
Fort Bourbon. In 1696 the English retook it from them. On the 4th
September, 1697, the French retook it and kept it. The peace was made
September 20, 1697. [Footnote: Minutes Relating to Hudson's Bay Company.]
In 1680 the stock rose from L. 100 to near L. 1,000. Notwithstanding the
losses sustained by the Company, amounting to L. 118,014 between 1682 and
1688, they were able to pay in 1684 the shareholders a dividend of fifty
per cent. Radisson brought home in 1684 a cargo of 20,000 beaver skins.
Oldmixon says, "10,000 Beavers, in all their factories, was one of the best
years of Trade they ever had, besides other peltry." Again in 1688 a
dividend of fifty per cent was made, and in 1689 one of twenty-five per
cent. In 1690, without any call being made, the stock was trebled, while at
the same time a dividend of twenty-five per cent was paid on the increased
or newly created stock. At the Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, the forts
captured by the French in 1697 were restored to the Company, who by 1720
had again trebled their capital, with a call of only ten per cent. After a
long and fierce rivalry with the Northwest Fur Company, the two companies
were amalgamated in 1821. [Footnote: Encyclopaedia Britannica.]
Radisson commences his narrative of 1652 in a reverent spirit, by
inscribing it "a la plus grande gloire de Dieu." All his manuscripts have
been handed down in perfect preservation.
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