ORIGIN AND WEALTH OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. 207 



French. In 1720 their circumstances were so far im- 

 proved that they again trebled their capital stock, with' 

 only a call of ten per cent, from the proprietors, on 

 which they paid dividends averaging nine per cent, for 

 many years, showing profits on the originally subscribed 

 capital stock actually paid up of between sixty and 

 seventy per cent, per annum from the year 1690 to 1800, 

 or during a period of 110 years. 



Up to this time the Hudson's Bay Company enjoyed a 

 monopoly of the fur trade, and reaped a rich harvest of 

 wealth and influence. 



In 1783 the North- West Company was formed, having 

 its head-quarters at Montreal. The North- West Company 

 soon rose to the position of a formidable rival to the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, and the territory the two com- 

 panies traded in became the scene of animosities, feuds, 

 and bloodshed, involving the destruction of property, 

 the demoralization of the Indians, and the ruin of the fur 

 trade. Owing to this opposition, the interest of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company suffered to such an extent, that 

 between 1800 and 1821, a period of twenty-two years, 

 their dividends were, for the first eight years, reduced to 

 four per cent., during the next six years they could pay 

 no dividend at all, and for the remaining eight years they 

 could pay only four per cent. 



In the year 1821 a union between the North- West and 

 Hudson's Bay Companies took place, under the title of the 

 last named. The proprietary were called upon to pay 

 100/. per cent, upon their capital, which, with the stock 

 in trade of both parties in the country, formed a capital 

 stock of 400,000/., on which four per cent, dividend was 

 paid in the years 1821 to 1824, and from that time half 

 yearly dividends of five per cent, to 1828, from 1828 to 

 1832 a dividend of five per cent., with a bonus of ten per 



