CHAPTER II. 



The Hudson's Bay Expedition. 



THE QUESTION OF THE HUDSON'S BAY ROUTE IN THE HOUSE OF 

 COMMONS — THE SELECT COMMITTEE — THE EVIDENCE — DEPAR- 

 TURE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



Our work is a step in progress 

 Of the onward march of man ; 

 We open the gates of another road 

 To the wheels of a mighty van. 



'HE question of the Hudson's Bay route was removed from the 

 recklessness of a misguided agitation in Manitoba to the 

 House of Commons of Canada where, on the eleventh of 

 February, 1884, Mr. Joseph Royal, M.P., of St. Boniface, 

 moved : " That a select committee, composed of Messieurs Abbott, 

 Brecken, Cagey, Dawson, Desjardins, Foster, Macmaster, Paint, Rispel, 

 Ross, Royal, Scott, Watson, White (Cardwell), and Woodworth, be 

 appointed to take into consideration the question of the navigation 

 of Hudson's Bay, with power to send for persons, papers and records," 

 Mr. Royal supported his motion by an able address, in which he 

 threw considerable light upon the subject of the navigation of our 

 northern waters, and pointed out the great advantages the route, if 

 found navigabl.e, would be to the people of Manitoba. He was 

 followed by the Hon. Edward Blake and the Right Hon. Sir John 

 A. Macdonald, both of whom supported the motion, and evinced a 

 desire that steps should be taken as soon as possible to increase 

 our knowledge of the navigation of Hudson Strait. The motion 

 was adopted, and the committee at once commenced its labours, 

 holding its first' session on the 22nd of February, at which Dr. 

 Robert Bell, Senior Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of 

 Canada, was examined at length. He had, in the course of his pro- 

 fessional duties, visited the immediate shores of Hudson's Bay, or the 



