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Journal of a Voyage through the 



I would propose, and the trade might then be carried oti 

 with a very superior degree, of advantage, both private and 

 public, under the privilege of their charter, and would 

 prove, in fact, the complete fulfilment of the conditions, on 

 which it was first granted. 



It would be an equal injustice to either party to be ex- 

 cluded from the option of such an undertaking ; for if the 

 one has a right by charter, has not the other aright by prior 

 possession, as being successors to the subjects of France, 

 who were exclusively possessed of all the then known parts 

 of this country, before Canada was ceded to Great-Britain, 

 except the coast of Hudson's Bay,, and having themselves 

 been the discoverers of a vast extent of country since add- 

 e4 to his Majesty's territories, even to the Hyperborean 

 and the Pacific Oceans ? 



If, therefore, that company should decline, or be averse 

 to engage in, such an extensive, and perhaps hazardous 

 undertaking, it would not, surely, be an unreasonable pro- 

 posal to them, from government, to give up a right which 

 they refuse to exercise, on allowing them a just and rea- 

 sonable indemnification for their stock, regulated by the 

 average dividends of a certain number of years, or the ac- 

 tual price at which they transfer their stock. 



By enjoyingthe privilege of the company's charter, though 

 but for a limited period, there are adventurers who would 

 be willing, as they are able, to engage in, and carry on the 

 proposed commercial undertaking, as well to give the most 

 ample and satisfactory security to government for the ful- 

 filment of its contract with the company. It would, at 

 the same time, be equally necessary to add a similar privi- 

 lege of trade on the Columbia River, and its tributary 

 waters. 



if, however, it should appear that the Hudson's-Bay 

 Company have an exclusive right to carry on their trade 

 as they think proper, and continue it on the narrow scale, 

 and with so little benefit to the public as they now do; if 

 they should refuse to enter into a co-operative junction 

 with others, what reasonable cause can they assign to go- 

 vernment for denying the navigation of the bay to Nelson's 

 River ; and, by its waters, a passage to and from the in- 

 terior country, for the use of the adventurers, and for the 

 sole purpose of transport, under the most severe and bind- 

 ing restrictions not to interfere with their trade on the 



