The Great Company Part 46

In September, 1860, after an illness of but five days' duration, died Sir George Simpson, the Governor-in-Chief in Rupert's Land, amidst universal regrets. He had been often, indeed persistently, attacked by the Company's enemies during his tenure of his office; indeed almost up to the day of his death he was charged with being autocratic and tyrannical, but none could deny him great ability and exceptional fitness for his post.

He had taken a powerful interest in northern discoveries, and superintended the fitting out of several Arctic expeditions. For his services in this direction he had been knighted in 1841, and soon afterwards had set out on a journey round the world, of which he published an interesting relation. In his late years he resided at Lachine, where he entertained the Prince of Wales, on his visit in 1860.

His successor was Mr. A. E. Dallas, who having made a considerable fortune in China, had for some time served the Company on the Pacific coast. Thanks to his prudence, the landing in 1859 of General Harney and a detachment of American troops on the island St. Juan, between Vancouver's Island and the mainland, had been controlled and check-mated by the proposal of joint occupation until negotiations should settle the question of right. He was returning home to England, intending to retire, when he was persuaded to accept the Governorship of Rupert's Land.

[Sidenote: Proposals to buy out the Company.]

At the head of a scheme for a transcontinental road and telegraph system was Mr. (afterwards Sir) Edward Watkin, well known as the promoter of the Grand Trunk Railway. For this scheme an Imperial subsidy was sought. The dissensions which ensued between the various parties interested proved not unfruitful, for they led up to the great question of buying out the Company.

At the beginning, however, the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial Secretary, had amiably undertaken to sound the Company as to their willingness to allow a road and telegraphs through their territory.[122]

In response to this demand the aged Governor answered, almost in terror, to the Duke of Newcastle, "What, sequester our very tap-root!

Take away the fertile lands where the buffaloes feed! Let in all kinds of people to squat and settle, and frighten away the fur-bearing animals they don't hunt and kill! Impossible! Destruction--extinction of our time-honoured industry. If these gentlemen are so patriotic, why don't they buy us out?" To this outburst the Duke quietly replied: "What is your price?" Governor Berens answered: "Well, about a million and a half."

[Sidenote: Discussions as to the price.]

On hearing this, Mr. Watkin was anxious that the British Government should figure among the purchasing parties. Purchase seemed the only way out of the difficulty. The Governor and Company seemed to have made up their minds for a sale or else to withstand the project which Mr. Watkin and the rest had so dearly at heart. An endeavour was made to convince the Duke that at the price named there could be no risk of loss, because the fur-trade could be separated from the land and rights, and after the purchase a new joint-stock company could be organized to take over the trading-posts, the fleet of ships, the stock of goods, and the other a.s.sets, rights and privileges affecting trade. Such a company, it was figured, would pay a rental (redeemable over a term of years if necessary) of three or three and one-half per cent, on 800,000, leaving only 700,000 as the value of a territory bigger than Russia in Europe. Such a company would have to raise additional capital of its own to modernise its business, to improve the means of intercourse between its posts, and to cheapen and expedite the transport to and fro of its merchandise. It was pointed out that a land company could be organized in England, Canada and America which, on a similar principle of redemption rental, might take over the lands, leaving a reserve of probably a fourth of the whole as the unpaid-for property of the Government, at the price of 700,000.

"Were these proposals to succeed, then," said Mr. Watkin, "all the country would have to do was to lend 1,000,000 on such security as could be offered, ample in each case," in his opinion. But a condition was to be imposed if these plans were to be adopted. The Hudson's Bay territory must be erected into a Crown colony like British Columbia, and governed on the responsibility of the Empire. As to the cost of government, there were three suggestions put forward. One was that it might be recouped by a moderate system of duties in and out of the territory, to be agreed upon between Canada and British Columbia on the one hand, and the United States on the other. The second was to sell a portion of the territory to America for five million dollars, which sum Mr. Watkin knew could be obtained. The third scheme was to open up portions of the fertile belt to colonization from the United States. When considering the second plan, the Duke said he would not sell; he would exchange; and studying the map, "we put our fingers upon the Aroostook Wedge, in the State of Maine; upon a piece of territory at the head of Lake Superior, and upon islands between British Columbia and Vancouver's Island, which might be the equivalent of rectification of boundary on many portions of the westward along the 49th parallel of lat.i.tude."

As for a name for the new proposed Crown colony, Dr. Mackay had suggested to Mr. Watkin, "Hysperia," and this name was mentioned to the Duke. Its similarity to "hysteria" probably caused it to be dismissed.

[Sidenote: Opposition of the Colonial Office.]

The decision of the Duke of Newcastle on the whole proposition was that were he a Minister of Russia he would agree to purchase the land from the Hudson's Bay Company. "It is," said he, "the right thing to do for many, for all reasons; but ministers here must subordinate their views to the Cabinet." Nevertheless, he went so far as to believe that it was right. But the Colonial Office were in positive opposition to the scheme.

It was now clear that the promoters of the Pacific transcontinental railway could hope for no direct pecuniary aid from the British Government. They must act for themselves.

After some correspondence, it was arranged that the promoters of the "Pacific scheme," as it was called, should meet the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company in an official interview. The date was the 1st of December, 1862.

"The room," writes Sir Edward Watkin in his Memoirs, "was the Court room, dark and dirty. A faded green cloth, old chairs, almost black, and a fine portrait of Prince Rupert. We met the Governor, Berens, Eden Colville and Lyell only. On our part there were Mr. G. G. Glyn (the late Lord Wolverton), Captain Glyn (the late Admiral Henry Glyn), and Messrs. Newmarch, Benson, Blake and myself. Mr. Berens, an old man and obstinate, bearing a name to be found in the earliest lists of Hudson's Bay shareholders, was somewhat insulting in his manner. We took it patiently. He seemed to be astounded at our a.s.surance. 'What!

interfere with his fertile belt, tap-root,' etc."

[Sidenote: The "Pacific Scheme" discussed.]

But the Governor showed himself more reasonable; a calmer discussion ensued, and the promoters were informed that the Company would be ready to make a grant of land for the actual site of a road and telegraph through their territory. Nothing more would be vouchsafed, unless, as they had informed the Duke of Newcastle, they were paid for all their rights and property.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FORT PRINCE OF WALES.

(_Drawn from an old print._)]

"The offer," observes Sir Edward, "of a mere site of a road and ground for telegraph poles was no use. So, just as we were leaving, I said, 'We are quite ready to consider your offer to sell; and to expedite matters, will you allow us to see your accounts, charters, etc.' They promised to consult their Court."

The result of this promise was that the promoters were put into communication with "old Mr. Roberts, aged eighty-five, their accountant, and with their solicitor, Mr. Maynard." Many interviews took place at Hudson's Bay House between these parties. On the 17th of March, 1863, Mr. Watkin met the Governor, Mr. Ellice, junior (son of Edward Ellice, who had been nick-named the "Old Bear"), Mr. Matheson and Mr. Maynard, at Hudson's Bay House. A number of account books were produced.

"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." On the following day, the chief promoter spent the forenoon with Mr. Roberts, the accountant, and his son and a.s.sistant, at Hudson's Bay House.

"Mr. Roberts told him many odd things," he says; "one was, that the Company had had a freehold farm on the site of the present City of San Francisco of one thousand acres, and had sold it just before the gold discoveries for 1,000, 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.'"

[Sidenote: The International Financial a.s.sociation.]

In spite of the Duke's indisposition, he expressed the greatest interest in the progress of the negotiations. Yet the prospect of Government aid was now remote. Two ways were open to raise the money for a purchase of the Company's rights--to secure the names and support of fifteen persons, millionaires, for 100,000 each; the other to hand the proposed purchase over to the newly-organized International Finance a.s.sociation, who were eager to find some important enterprise to put before the public. The first method seemed to recommend itself to the promoters; and the friends of the project could easily have underwritten the necessary amount. But the Company now announced that it would give no credit. "We must take up the shares as presented and pay for them over the counter." There was, therefore, no alternative. Mr. Richard Potter, acting for the capitalists, completed the negotiations. The shares were taken over and paid for by the International Financial a.s.sociation, who issued new stock to the public to an amount which covered a large provision of new capital for the extension of business by the Company, and at great profit to themselves. As regards the new Hudson's Bay shareholders, their two hundred and one shares were subsequently reduced by returns of capital to one hundred and thirty-one, and having attained a value of thirty-seven, during the "land boom" period twenty years later stood at two hundred and forty-one.

A Hudson's Bay Company prospectus was issued. It was understood that the International Financial a.s.sociation were merely agents, that the shares would not remain in their hands, but would pa.s.s to the proprietors, who would, of course, only enjoy the rights such shares carried. They would, in fact, be a continuation of the Company, only their efforts would be directed to the promotion of the settlement of the country; the development of the postal and transit communications being one of the objects to which they were pledged. A new council had been formed, and amongst its members was Mr. Eden Colville, one of the old committee, whom the Duke praised publicly in the highest terms, as a "man of business and good sense."

There was one man in London who was astonished at what had taken place. Edward Ellice still lived, but his commanding figure was bent by the weight of years. As we have seen, it was he who, in 1821, played the princ.i.p.al part in the amalgamation of the rival companies.

He had grown to be proud of the Company, proud of its history, of its traditions, of its service; and he seemed to detect in this transfer, its fall. A few months before his death, in 1863, he met one of the negotiators at Burlington House. He confronted him for some moments without speaking, in a state of abstraction. Then he pa.s.sed on, like a man "endeavouring to recollect a long history of difficulty, and to realize how strangely it had all ended."

Ellice had said, before the Parliamentary Committee of 1857, in reply to a question put by a member as to what probability there was of a settlement being made, "within what you consider to be the southern territories of the Hudson's Bay Company?" "None; in the lifetime of the youngest man now alive!"

FOOTNOTES:

[120] Lord Elgin went on to say: "At the same time I think it is to be regretted that a jurisdiction so extensive and peculiar, exercised by British subjects at such a distance and so far beyond the control of public opinion, should be so entirely removed from the surveillance of Her Majesty's Government. The evil arising from this state of things is forcibly ill.u.s.trated in the present instance by the difficulty which I experience in obtaining materials for a full and satisfactory report on the charges which your Lordship referred to me. It were very desirable, if abuses do exist, that Government possessed the means of probing them to the bottom; and on the other hand it seems to be hard on the Company, if the imputations cast upon it be unfounded, that Government, which undertakes the investigation, should not have the power of acquitting it on testimony more unexceptionable than any which is at present procurable. It has been stated to me that your Lordship has it in contemplation to establish a military officer at some point within the territories of the Company, and that the Company is disposed to afford every facility for carrying out this arrangement. I trust that this report may prove to be well founded."

[121] The treaty having provided for a joint commission, Mr. A. S.

Johnston and the Hon. (afterwards Sir) John Rose were appointed to act for America and Great Britain, respectively. These commissioners, on the 10th of September, 1869, issued an award from Washington, directing the payment of $450,000 by the United States to the Hudson's Bay Company, and $200,000 to the Puget's Sound Company. There was, as usual, considerable delay in making this payment. On the 11th of July, 1870, $325,000 was appropriated by Congress for this purpose, and a like sum by another appropriation in the following year.

[122] "I am glad to tell you that since I received your letter of Sat.u.r.day 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 1,500,000. 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 the land would for some time bring in little or nothing--certainly not enough to pay for the government of the country.

"I do not think Canada _can_, or if she can, ought to take any large share in such a payment. Some of her politicians would no doubt support the proposal with views of their own--but it would be a serious, and for some time unrenumerative addition to their very embara.s.sing debt. I certainly should not like to _sell_ any portion of the territory to the United States--_exchange_ (if the territory were once acquired) would be a different thing--but that would not help towards the liquidation of the purchase money."--_Letter of the Duke of Newcastle, 14th August, 1862._

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

1863-1871.

Indignation of the Wintering Partners -- Distrust and Misgivings Arise -- Proposals of Governor Dallas for the Compensation of the Wintering Partners in Exchange for their Abrogation of Deed Poll -- Threatened Deadlock -- Position of those in Authority Rendered Untenable -- Failure of Duke of Newcastle's Proposals for Surrender of Territorial Rights -- The Russo-American Alaskan Treaty -- The Hon. W. McDougall's Resolutions -- Deputation Goes to England -- Sir Stafford Northcote becomes Governor -- Opinion of Lord Granville as to the Position of Affairs -- Lack of Military System Company's Weakness -- Cession now Inevitable -- Terms Suggested by Lord Granville Accepted -- First Riel Rebellion -- Wolseley at Fort Garry.

All this had taken place in London. The sale had been negotiated between financiers. Not a word of what was impending had crossed the Atlantic to the hunting-grounds of the North-West--to the body of men who were, as much as the Governor, the Committee and the sleeping partners, members of the Great Company. Yet their voice had never been heard, nor their consent to the transaction obtained. By the Deed Poll it was provided that the profits of the fur-trade (less interest on capital employed) were to be divided into one hundred parts, sixty parts going to the stockholders and forty to the "wintering partners."

What would the "wintering partners" say to this brilliant "game of chess" which had been played with the stockholders for interests which were jointly theirs?

[Sidenote: Indignation of the Wintering Partners.]

No sooner had the papers been signed, and the million and a half sterling paid over, than misgivings seem to have seized the minds of those directly interested. Yet, on their behalf, it was urged that the Company's posts and hunting grounds still remained. That the factors and traders would be as well off under the new _regime_ as the old--that the mere change of one body of shareholders for another could affect them nothing--that, in fact, they would really benefit by having men of newer ideas and a more progressive spirit.

The news, once in the newspapers, travelled fast, and in a few weeks at the less distant posts, and in a few months at the more remote ones, the rumour ran that the Company had sold out--that the London partners had betrayed the real workers in the wilderness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FORT GARRY.]

A large number of the Company's chief factors and traders had, it appeared, addressed a memorial to the Company in London, when first the rumour of a sale had reached them. They declared that they had been informed that no transfer was probable, but if it took place it would not be without previous consultation. They now learned for the first time from the newspapers that these arrangements had been made.

An influential member of the new Company predicted that a general resignation of the officers from Labrador to Sitka would ensue, followed by a confederation amongst themselves, in order to carry on the fur-trade in compet.i.tion with the Company. They had, they said, "the skill, the will, and the capital to do it."