THE HUDSON'S BAY FUR COMPANY.

"Captain Craventy?"

"Mrs Barnett?"

What do you think of your Lieutenant, Jaspar Hobson?"

"I think he is an officer who will go far."

"What do you mean by the words, Will go far? Do you mean that he will go

beyond the Twenty-fourth parallel?"

Captain Craventy could not help smiling at Mrs Paulina Barnett's question.

They were talking together near the stove, whilst the guests were passing

backwards and forwards between the eating and drinking tables.

"Madam," replied the Captain, "all that a man can do, will be done by Jaspar

Hobson. The Company has charged him to explore the north of their possessions,

and to establish a factory as near as possible to the confines of the American

continent, and he will establish it."

"That is a great responsibility for Lieutenant Hobson !" said the

traveller.

"It is, madam, but Jaspar Hobson has never yet drawn back from a task imposed

upon him, however formidable it may have appeared."

"I can quite believe it, Captain," replied Mrs Barnett, "and we shall now see

the Lieutenant at work. But what induces the Company to construct a fort on the

shores of the Arctic Ocean?"

"They have a powerful motive, madam," replied the Captain.

"I may add a double motive. At no very distant date, Russia will probably

cede her American possessions to the Government of the United States. [*1] When

this cession has taken place, the Company will find access to the Pacific Ocean

extremely difficult, unless the North-west passage discovered by Mc'Clure be

practicable. [*1 Captain Craventy's prophecy has since been realised.] Fresh

explorations will decide this, for the Admiralty is about to send a vessel which

will coast along the North American continent, from Behring Strait to Coronation

Gulf, on the eastern side of which the new-Art is to be established. If the

enterprise succeed, this point will become an important factory, the centre of

the northern fur trade. The transport of furs across the Indian territories

involves a vast expenditure of time and money, whereas, if the new route be

available, steamers will take them from the new fort to the Pacific Ocean in a

few days."

"That would indeed be an important result of the enterprise, if this

North-west passage can really be used," replied Mrs Paulina Barnett; "but I

think you spoke of a double motive."

"I did, madam," said the Captain, "and I alluded to a matter of vital

interest to the Company. But I must beg of you to allow me to explain to you in

a few words how the present state of things came about, how it is in fact that

the very source of the trade of this once flourishing Company is in danger of

destruction."

The Captain then proceeded to give a brief sketch of the history of the

famous Hudson's Bay Company.

In the earliest times men employed the skins and furs of animals as clothing.

The fur trade is therefore of very great antiquity. Luxury in dress increased to

such an extent, that sumptuary laws were enacted to control too great

extravagance, especially in furs, for which there was a positive passion. Vair

and the furs of Siberian squirrels were prohibited at the middle of the 12th

century.

In 1553 Russia founded several establishments in the northern steppes, and

England lost no time in following her example. The trade in sables, ermines, and

beavers, was carried on through the agency of the Samoiedes; but during the

reign of Elizabeth, a royal decree restricted the use of costly furs to such an

extent, that for several years this branch of industry was completely

paralysed.

On the 2nd May, 1670, a licence to trade in furs in the Hudson's Bay

Territory was granted to the Company, which numbered several men of high rank

amongst its shareholders : the Duke of York, the Duke of Albemarle, the Earl of

Shaftesbury, &c. Its capital was then only ?8420. Private companies were

formidable rivals to its success; and French agents, making Canada their

headquarters, ventured on hazardous but most lucrative expeditions. The active

competition of these bold hunters threatened the very existence of the infant

Company.

The conquest of Canada, however, somewhat lessened the danger of its

position. Three years after the taking of Quebec, 1776, the fur trade received a

new impulse. English traders became familiar with the difficulties of trade of

this kind; they learned the customs of the country, the ways of the Indians and

their system of exchange of goods, but for all this the Company as yet made no

profits whatever. Moreover, towards 1784 some merchants of Montreal combined to

explore the fur country, and founded that powerful North-west Company, which

soon became the centre of the fur trade. In 1798 the new Company shipped furs to

the value of no less than ?120,000, and the existence of the Hudson's Bay

Company was again threatened.

We must add, that the North-west Company shrank from no act, however

iniquitous, if its interests were at stake. Its agents imposed on their own

employes, speculated on the misery of the Indians, robbed them when they had

themselves made them drunk, setting at defiance the Act of Parliament forbidding

the sale of spirituous liquors on Indian territory; and consequently realising

immense profits, in spite of the competition of the various Russian and American

companies which had sprung up-the American Fur Company amongst others, founded

in 1809, with a capital of a million of dollars, which was carrying on

operations on the west of the Rocky Mountains.

The Hudson's Bay Company was probably in greater danger of ruin than any

other; but in 1821, after much discussion, a treaty was made, in accordance with

which its old rival the North-west Company became amalgamated with it, the two

receiving the common title of "The Hudson's Bay Fur Company."

Now the only rival of this important association is the American St Louis Fur

Company. The Hudson's Bay Company has numerous establishments scattered over a

domain extending over 3,700,000 square miles. Its principal factories are

situated on James Bay, at the mouth of the Severn, in the south, and towards the

frontiers of Upper Canada, on Lakes Athapeskow, Winnipeg, Superior, Methye,

Buffalo, and near the Colombia, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan, and Assiniboin rivers,

&c. Fort York, commanding the course of the river Nelson, is the

headquarters of the Company, and contains its principal fur depot. Moreover, in

1842 it took a lease of all the Russian establishments in North America at an

annual rent of ?40,000, so that it is now working on its own account the vast

tracts of country between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. It has sent out

intrepid explorers in every direction: Hearne, towards the Polar Sea, in 1770,

to the discovery of the Coppermine River; Franklin, in 1819 to 1822, along 5550

miles of the American coast; Mackenzie, who, after having discovered the river

to which he gave his name, reached the shores of the Pacific at 52? 24' N. Lat.

The following is a list of the quantities of skins and furs despatched to Europe

by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1833-34, which will give an exact idea of the

extent of its trade:-

Beavers . . . . . . . . . . . 1,074

Skins and young Beavers,. . 92,288

Musk Rats,. . . . . . . . . 694,092

Badgers,. . . . . . . . . . 1,069

Bears,. . . . . . . . . . . 7,451

Ermines,. . . . . . . . . . 491

Foxes, . . . . . . . . . . . 9,937

Lynxes, . . . . . . . . . . 14,255

Sables, . . . . . . . . . . 64,490

Polecats, . . . . . . . . . 25,100

Otters, . . . . . . . . . . 22,303

Racoons,. . . . . . . . . . 713

Swans, . . . . . . . . . . 7,918

Wolves, . . . . . . . . . . 8,484

Wolverines, . . . . . . . . 1,571

Such figures ought to bring in a large profit to the Hudson's Bay Company,

but unfortunately they have not been maintained, and for the last twenty years

have been decreasing.

The cause of this decline was the subject of Captain Craventy's explanation

to Mrs Paulina Barnett.

"Until 1839, madam," said he, "the Company was in a flourishing condition. In

that year the number of furs exported was 2,350,000, but since then the trade

has gradually declined, and this number is now reduced by one-half at

least."

"But what do you suppose is the cause of this extraordinary decrease in the

exportation of furs?" inquired Mrs Barnett.

"The depopulation of the hunting territories, caused by the activity, and, I

must add, the want of foresight of the hunters. The game was trapped and killed

without mercy. These massacres were conducted in the most reckless and

short-sighted fashion. Even females with young and their little ones did not

escape. The consequence is, that the animals whose fur is valuable have become

extremely rare. The otter has almost entirely disappeared, and is only to be

found near the islands of the North Pacific. Small colonies of beavers have

taken refuge on the shores of the most distant rivers. It is the same with many

other animals, compelled to flee before the invasion of the hunters. The traps,

once crowded with game, are now empty. The price of skins is rising just when a

great demand exists for furs. Hunters have gone away in disgust, leaving none

but the most intrepid and indefatigable, who now penetrate to the very confines

of the American continent."

"Yes," said Mrs Paulina Barnett, "the fact of the fur-bearing animals having

taken refuge beyond the polar circle, is a sufficient explanation of the

Company's motive in founding a factory on the borders of the Arctic Ocean."

"Not only so, madam," replied the Captain, "the Company is also compelled to

seek a more northern centre of operations, for an Act of Parliament has lately

greatly reduced its domain."

"And the motive for this reduction?" inquired the traveller.

"A very important question of political economy was involved, madam; one

which could not fail greatly to interest the statesmen of Great Britain. In a

word, the interests of the Company and those of civilisation are antagonistic.

It is to the interest of the Company to keep the territory belonging to it in a

wild uncultivated condition. Every attempt at clearing ground was pitilessly put

a stop to, as it drove away the wild animals, so that the monopoly enjoyed by

the Hudson's Bay Company was detrimental to all agricultural enterprise. All

questions not immediately relating to their own particular trade, were

relentlessly put aside by the governors of the association. It was this

despotic, and, in a certain sense, immoral system, which provoked the measures

taken by Parliament, and, in 1837, a commission appointed by the Colonial

Secretary decided that it was necessary to annex to Canada all the territories

suitable for cultivation, such as the Red River and Saskatchewan districts, and

to leave to the Company only that portion of its land which appeared to be

incapable of future civilisation. The next year the Company lost the western

slopes of the Rocky Mountains, which it held direct from the Colonial Office,

and you will now understand, madam, how the agents of the Company, having lost

their power over their old territories, are determined before giving up their

trade to try to work the little known countries of the north, and so open a

communication with the Pacific by means of the North-west passage."

Mrs Paulina Barnett was now well informed as to the ulterior projects of the

celebrated Company. Captain Craventy had given her a graphic sketch of the

situation, and it is probable he would have entered into further details, had

not an incident cut short his harangue.

Corporal Joliffe announced in a loud voice that, with Mrs Joliffe's

assistance, he was about to mix the punch. This news was received as it

deserved. The bowl-or rather, the basin-was filled with the precious liquid. It

contained no less than ten pints of coarse rum. Sugar, measured out by Mrs

Joliffe, was piled up at the bottom, and on the top floated slices of lemon

shrivelled with age. Nothing remained to be done but to light this alcoholic

lake, and the Corporal, match in hand, awaited the order of his Captain, as if

he were about to spring a mine.

"All right, Joliffe !" at last said Captain Craventy.

The light was applied to the bowl, and in a moment the punch was in flames,

whilst the guests applauded and clapped their hands. Ten minutes afterwards,

full glasses of the delightful beverage were circulating amongst the guests,

fresh bidders for them coming forward in endless succession, like speculators on

the Stock Exchange.

"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! three cheers for Mrs Barnett! A cheer for the

Captain."

In the midst of these joyful shouts cries were heard from outside. Silence

immediately fell upon the company assembled.

"Sergeant Long," said the Captain, "go and see what is the matter."

And at his chief's order, the Sergeant, leaving his glass unfinished, left

the room.