It Will Also Be Requisite To
Secure By Formal Agreements That The Guarantee Shall Cease, And The
Grants Of Land
For railway purposes revert to the grantors, in case of
the permanent abandonment of the undertaking, of which abandonment some
Unambiguous test should be prescribed, such as the suspension of
through communication for a stated period.
"The Duke of Newcastle does not object to five years as the maximum
period for the completion of the undertaking - and he thinks it fair to
exclude from that period, or from the period of suspension above
mentioned, any time during which any part of the line should be in
occupation of a foreign enemy. But injuries from the outbreaks of
Indian tribes and other casualties, which are inherent in the nature of
the undertaking, must be taken as part of the risks which fall on the
conductors of the enterprise, by whose resource and foresight alone
they can be averted.
"His Grace apprehends that the Crown land contemplated in Article 3, is
the territory lying between the eastern boundary of British Columbia
and the territory purporting to be granted to the Hudson Bay Company by
their charter. His Grace must clearly explain that Her Majesty's
Government do not undertake, in performance of this article of the
agreement, to go to the expense of settling any questions of disputed
boundary, but only to grant land to which the Crown title is clear.
"With regard to the 7th Article, the Duke of Newcastle could not hold
out to the Company the prospect of protection by any military or police
force in the uninhabited districts through which their line would pass
- but he would consider favourably any proposal for investing the
officers of the Company with such magisterial or other powers as might
conduce to the preservation of order and the security of the Company's
operations.
"With reference to the 9th and concluding Article, the Duke of
Newcastle would not willingly undertake the responsible functions
proposed to him, but he will agree to do so if by those means he can in
any degree facilitate the project, and if he finds that the Colonies
concur in the proposal.
"Subject to these observations, and to such questions of detail as
further consideration may elicit, the Duke of Newcastle cordially
approves of the Company's proposals, and is prepared to sanction the
grants of land contemplated in the 3rd Article. He intends to
communicate the scheme, with a copy of this letter, to the Governor-
General of Canada, and the Governor of Vancouver Island, recommending
the project to their attentive consideration.
"I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
"C. FORTESCUE.
"E. W. WATKIN, Esq."
CHAPTER VIII.
Negociations for Purchase of the Hudson's Bay
Property.
In response to our demand for a large tract of land through the
"Fertile belt" of the Hudson's Bay territory, the Governor answered,
almost in terror, to the Duke of Newcastle: - "What! sequester our very
tap-root! Take away the fertile lands where our 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?" Mr. Berens, the Governor,
answered: "Well, about a million and a half."
Finding that our demands for land alongside the proposed road and
telegraph were not acceptable to the Governor and Court of the Hudson's
Bay Company, we had nothing for it but either to drop the Pacific
transit proposal, after many months of labour and trouble, or to take
the bold course of accepting the challenge of those gentlemen, and
negociating for the purchase of all their property and rights. Before
making a decided move, however, I had many anxious discussions with the
Duke as to who the real purchaser should be. My strong, and often
urged, advice was, that whoever the medium of purchase might be, Great
Britain should take to the bargain. I showed that at the price named
there could be no risk of loss; and I developed alternative methods of
dealing with the question: - That the fur trade could be separated from
the land and rights, and that 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 assets, rights, and privileges affecting trade,
and that such a company would probably pay a rental - redeemable over a
term of years, were that needful to meet Mr. Gladstone's notions - of 3
or 3-1/2 per cent, on 800,000l., leaving only 700,000l.
as the value of a territory bigger than Russia in Europe. Such a
company would have to raise additional capital of its own to modernize
its business, to improve the means of intercourse between its posts,
and to cheapen and expedite the transport to and fro of its
merchandise. I carefully described the nature of these changes and all
that they involved. The Duke seemed to favour this idea. Then I pointed
out that, if desired, a land company could be organized in England,
Canada, and the United States, which, on a similar principle of rental
and redemption, 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 700,000l. If these proposals
succeeded, then all the country would have to do was to lend
1,500,000l. on such security as could be offered, ample, in each
case, in my opinion. But I said it must be a condition, if these plans
were adopted, to erect the Hudson's Bay territory into a Crown Colony,
like British Columbia, and to govern it on the responsibility of the
Empire. I showed that this did not involve any large sum annually; and
that, as in the case of British Columbia, the loss would be turned into
a profit by sales of the one-fourth of the land to be given, in return
for the responsibilities, taken, to our country.
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