!•] PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 465 



accepted as a boundary, would leave less than one third to the United 

 States. 



The offer of the free navigation of that river, when the whole territory, 

 drained by all its tributary streams, including the northernmost branches, 

 might have been justly claimed, would have also given to Great Britain, 

 in time of peace, all the commercial advantages which it can afford to 

 the Americans. 



In the case of a war, (which God forbid,) whatever might be the result 

 on shore, the line proposed by Great Britain, even with the addition of 

 the detached and defenceless territory she offered, would leave the sea 

 border at her mercy, and the United States without a single port; whilst 

 the boundary proposed by them might, during that period, deprive Great 

 Britain only of the use of the port at the mouth of the Columbia, and 

 would leave her in the secure possession of nurnerous seaports, perhaps less 

 convenient, but still affording ample means of communication with the 

 interior. That line, indeed, with such slight reciprocal modifications as 

 the topography of the country may indicate, would establish the most 

 natural and mutually-defensible boundary that can be found, and, for that 

 reason, the least liable to collision, and the best calculated to perpetuate 

 peace and harmony between the two powers. 



I. 



Documents relating to the Hudson's Bat Company. 



This company was incorporated by a charter from King Charles II. 

 of England, issued on the 16th of May, 1669; a few extracts from which 

 will be sufficient to show the powers of the company and the extent of its 

 territories under that grant. 



0-) . • 



His Majesty's Royal Charter to the Governor and Company of Hud- 

 son's Bay. 



" Charles the Second, by the grace of God, king of England, &c, to 

 all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting : Whereas our dearly 

 beloved cousin, Prince Rupert [and seventeen others, whose names and 

 titles follow] have, at their own great cost and charges, undertaken an ex- 

 pedition for Hudson's Bay, in the north-west parts of America, for the dis- 

 covery of a new passage into the South Sea, and for the finding of some 

 trade for furs, minerals, and other considerable commodities ; and by such 

 their undertaking have already made such discoveries as do encourage them 

 to proceed farther in performance of their said design, by means whereof 

 there may probably arise great advantage to us and our kingdoms ; and 

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