400 Hudson's bay company's treatment of Americans. [1844. 



United States from obtaining cargoes on the north-west coasts of 

 America ; though the mariners of all nations, when thrown upon 

 these coasts by shipwreck or by other misfortunes, have uniformly 

 received shelter and protection, at its posts and factories. On the 

 other hand, the publications made by the directors and agents of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company evince the most hostile feelings towards 

 the citizens of the United States, against whom every species of 

 calumny is levelled in those works, whilst, at the same time, all their 

 efforts to establish themselves in Oregon are derided.* 



Under these circumstances, the fur trade has, until recently, been 

 very profitable to the Hudson's Bay Company ; but it is now cer- 

 tainly declining in every part of North America, from the diminu- 

 tion of the number of the animals, whilst the price of furs does not 

 increase, in consequence of the advantageous employment of silk, 

 cotton, and wool in their place, particularly in China. The Hud- 

 son's Bay Company endeavors to prevent this decrease of the ani- 

 mals in the countries east of the Rocky Mountains, by withdrawing 

 its hunters and traders from certain districts in succession, during a 

 number of years ; but in the Columbia countries, where its control 

 is not exclusive, and its tenure of the soil is insecure, no precautions 

 of this kind are observed, and many of its posts have therefore been 

 reduced or abandoned. 



As the fur trade in the Columbia regions declined, the Hudson's 

 Bay Company began to turn its attention to agriculture, pasturage, 

 cutting timber, fishing, and other pursuits, for which persons were 

 introduced from Canada or from Europe, and extensive establish- 

 ments have been formed in several places. From the use or ex- 

 portation of these products, some revenue is saved or gained, but it 

 is evident that capital thus invested can yield but slender returns, and 

 no other modes for its employment are offered at present in Oregon, 

 or further north. Those countries, indeed, contain lands in de- 



* See History of the Oregon Territory and British American Fur Trade, by John 

 Dunn, Svo. London, 1844, a compound of ridiculous blunders, vulgar ribaldry, and 

 infamous calumnies, against the United States and their citizens. In blind and fe- 

 rocious hatred of the Americans, Mr. Dunn, ex -storekeeper at Fort Vancouver, may 

 indeed claim equality with His Exc'y Charles Powlett Thompson, Lord Sydenham, 

 some time President of the Board of Trade of Great Britain, and subsequently 

 Governor and Captain-General of Canada. See the memoirs and letters of this 

 latter worthy, published by his brother, and also the admirable remarks on that 

 work by Lord Brougham, in his Historical Sketches of the Statesmen of the time of 

 George III. It will be borne in mind that the letters containing these libels were 

 addressed by Lord Sydenham to the British ministers, his former colleagues in 

 office ; and that they are published by his attached relative as evidences of his 

 character, and as claims to the admiration of his countrymen. 



