The
Indians Also Enlist In The Hunts; And It Is Estimated That Upwards Of
$200,000 Worth Of Furs Are Annually Taken From Our Territory And Sold
To The Hudson's Bay Company.
It is high time indeed that a military
post should be established somewhere on the Red River by our
government.
The Hudson's Bay Company is now a powerful monopoly. Not
so magnificent and potent as the East India Company, it is still a
powerful combination, showering opulence on its members, and
reflecting a peculiar feature in the strength and grandeur of the
British empire a power, which, to use the eloquent language of
Daniel Webster, "has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with
her possessions and military posts whose morning drum-beat,
following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the
earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial music."
The company is growing richer every year, and its jurisdiction and its
lands will soon find an availability never dreamed of by its founders,
unless, as may possibly happen, popular sovereignty steps in to grasp
the fruits of its long apprenticeship. Some time ago I believe the
Canadas sought to annex this broad expanse to their own jurisdiction.
There are about two hundred members in the Hudson's Bay Company. The
charter gives them the power to legislate for the settlement. They
have many persons in their employ in England as well as in British
America. A clerk, after serving the company ten years, with a salary
of about $500 per annum, is considered qualified for membership, with
the right to vote in the deliberations of the company, and one share
in the profits.
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