DESPATCHES FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE. No. 1. 3 No. 1. His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to Governor General Viscount Monck. * • Page 1. (No. 16.) COPY of a DESPATCH from His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and My Lord, Downing-street, 18 January 1868. I HAVE received your Despatch, No. 107,* of the 21st of December, accom18 January 1868. panied by an Address to Her Majesty from both Houses of the Canadian Parliament, proposing the annexation of Prince Rupert's Land and the North West Territory to the Dominion of Canada. I have also received your Lordship's subsequent Despatch, No. 1,† of the 1st of January, enclosing Resolutions adopted by the two Houses, on the same subject, and an approved Minute of the Privy Council. + Page 2. These proceedings will receive the early and serious attention of Her Majesty's Confidential Advisers. The decision of Her Majesty's Government will be communicated as early as possible, but the consideration by them of so important a subject will necessarily occupy a short time. No. 2. to Governor Ge- 23 April 1868. Page 1. (No. 76.) COPY of a DESPATCH from His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and My Lord, Downing-street, 23 April 1868. I HAVE already acknowledged, on the 18th of January, your Lordship's Despatch, No. 107, of the 21st of December, transmitting a joint Address from the Senate and House of Conimons of Canada, to Her Majesty, praying the annexation to Canada of Rupert's Land and the North West Territory. Your Lordship will have the goodness to inform the Senate and House of Commons that their Address has been duly laid before the Queen. Her Majesty's Government will be willing to recommend a compliance with the prayer of the Address so soon as they shall be empowered to do so with a just regard to the rights and interests of Her Majesty's subjects interested in those territories. They are advised, however, that the requisite powers of Government and legislation cannot, consistently with the existing Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, be transferred to Canada without an Act of Parliament. Before such an Act can be obtained, it is necessary to consider the position of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Company have held their Charter, and exercised privileges conferred by it, for 200 years, including rights of government and legislation, together with the property of all the lands and precious metals; and various eminent law officers, consulted in succession, have all declared that the validity of this Charter cannot justly be disputed by the Crown. I have, on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, called upon the Company to state the terms on which they would be prepared to surrender to the Crown whatever rights they have over the lands and precious metals, including the rights of government, with the intimation that no present payment in money will be made to them, but that in the transference of their rights to Canada they might have a reservation made to them of defined portions of land, and of a share a share of the future proceeds of the lands and precious metals of the territory, up to a certain fixed amount. I enclose copies of the letters which have passed, up to the present time, between the Company and this Department, upon this subject. I Hudson's Bay Com. pany, 15 Jan. 1868, page 16. Hudson's Bay Com page 17. purpose to introduce a Bill into the Imperial Parliament, with the view of pany, 25 Jan. 1868, authorising any arrangement which may be effected on the basis thus indicated; of defining the territory over which it extends, and authorising the subsequent transfer to the Canadian Government of the rights and powers to be acquired by the Crown in respect to Government and property, in accordance with the prayer of the Address. Colonial Office, 18 Jan. 1868, page 17. Colonial Office, 23 April 1868, page 22. With respect to the North West Territory, the same obstacles do not exist to the transfer of the greater part by the Crown to Canada at the present time, subject to proper reservations of the rights and property of Her Majesty's subjects now settled therein, and for the protection of Her Majesty's Native subjects; but I apprehend that while it remains separated from Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company's territory, still under the Company's government, it will not be the desire of Canada to undertake the government of this more remote country. A portion of the North West Territory immediately adjacent to British Columbia, I am of opinion that it will be necessary for the public advantage to retain in the possession of the Crown, with a view to its incorporation with British Columbia. No. 3. COPY of a DESPATCH from His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos His Grace the to Governor General Viscount Monck. My Lord, Downing-street, 8 August 1868. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, for your Lordship's information, the enclosed copy of an Act* of Parliament conferring powers for the surrender to Her Majesty, by the Hudson's Bay Company, of their territories and privileges. In pursuance of the powers conferred by this Act, I propose to enter into negotiations with the Hudson's Bay Company as to the terms on which they will surrender their rights, and shall not fail to keep your Lordship informed of the course of such negotiations. Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to Governor General Viscount TELEGRAM from His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to Viscount Monck. 17 September 1868. I SHOULD have preferred an earlier date. I cannot defer negotiations with Hudson's Bay Company, but probably the settlement of terms will occupy some time. No. 4. His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to Viscount Monck. 17 Sept. 1868. (No. 64.) COPY of a DESPATCH from the Earl Granville, K. G., to the Right Honourable Sir, You will observe that the Governor and Committee of the Company are authorised to concur in all such measures as may be found necessary for effecting this transfer, and for securing to the Company all the rights and reservations to which they will be entitled, provided that the acceptance of the terms by the Government and Parliament of Canada is duly signified to them within six months. I trust that this acceptance may be confidently anticipated, and that by it an opening will be made for extending the benefits of a regular Government to those British subjects who at present occupy the Company's territory, for settling the tracts of fertile land which lie in the centre of the Continent, and for the consolidation of British North America under one Central Government. On one point, which has not been hitherto touched upon, I am anxious to express to you the expectations of Her Majesty's Government. They believe that whatever may have been the policy of the Company, and the effect of their chartered right upon the progress of settlement, the Indian tribes, who form the existing population of this part of America, have profited by the Company's rule. They have been protected from some of the vices of civilisation; they have been taught, to some appreciable extent, to respect the laws and rely on the justice of the white man, and they do not appear to have suffered from any causes of extinction beyond those which are inseparable from their habits and their climate. I am sure that I am sure that your Government will not forget the care which is due to those who must soon be exposed to new dangers, and, in the course of settlement, be dispossessed of the lands which they are used to enjoy as their own, or be confined within unwontedly narrow limits. This question had not escaped my notice while framing the proposals which I laid before the Canadian Delegates and the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. I did not, however, then allude to it, because I felt the difficulty of insisting on any definite conditions without the possibility of foreseeing the circumstances under which these conditions would be applied, and because it appeared to me wiser and more expedient to rely on the sense of duty and responsibility belonging to the Government and people of such a country as Canada. That Government, I believe, has never sought to evade its obligations to those whose uncertain rights and rude means of living are contracted by the advance of civilised man. I am sure that they will not do so in the present case, but that the old inhabitants of the country will be treated with such forethought and consideration as may preserve them from the dangers of the approaching change, and satisfy them of the friendly interest which their new governors feel in their welfare. With the expression of this hope, I will close my Despatch, merely repeating my sincere desire that the annexation of this great territory may be speedily accomplished, and may bring to the Dominion all the advantages which the statesmen of Canada not unreasonably anticipate. No. 6. (No. 122.) No. 6. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Earl Granville, K.G., to the Right Honourable Earl Granville, Sir John Young, Bart., G.C.M.G. Sir, Downing-street, 25 June 1869. WITH reference to your telegram of the 19th instant,* I have to inform you that the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, to whom I forwarded a copy of it, has stated that the Company have no objection to offer to the immediate commencement of the survey of lands for settlement. I have, &c. K.G., to the Right Hon. Sir John Young, Bart. 25 June 1869. * Page 9. No. 7. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Earl Granville, K.G., to the Right Honourable Earl Granville, Sir J. Young, Bart., G.C.M.G. Sir, Downing-street, 10 August 1869. I SENT on the 10th instant, at 5.50 p.m., a telegraphic Despatch to you in the following words :- "Canada (Rupert's Land) Loan Bill passed to-day. Copy shall be sent. Acquaint Mr. Rose." K.G., to the Right I have, &c. (signed) Granville. Correspondence between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Colonial Office. Right Hon. Sir E. Head, Bart., K.C.B., to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. 15 Jan. 1868. COPY of a LETTER from the Right Hon. Sir E. Head, Bart., K.C.B., to His My Lord Duke, Hudson's Bay House, London, 15 January 1868. IN addressing this letter to your Grace on behalf of the Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, I think that some apology is necessary for anticipating the official communication from the Colonial Office, of the resolutions passed in the Parliament of Canada, as well as the Address to be founded upon them; but as from the tone of the debate in the Canadian Parliament, and from the terms of the resolutions passed there, it is manifestly the object of that Parliament to have the power to establish in the Dominion of Canada, including the territory of Rupert's Land, courts which shall have jurisdiction in all matters arising in any part of British North America, and thus to give power to the tribunals so constituted, to determine upon the rights claimed by this Company under their Charter, a course of proceeding which this Committee consider to be so injurious to the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, they are desirous to bring the matter before your Grace, and to submit their views upon the subject to Her Majesty's Government, before any assent is given, or determination come to, in reference to Her Majesty's approval of the proposed admission of Rupert's Land into the Union of British North America. I beg to remind your Grace that the rights of this Company under their Charter have at various times been brought under the consideration of the Government, and that the result of those discussions has been a clear and distinct recognition, on the part of the Crown, that the general validity of the Charter cannot now be called in question, and in particular that the territorial ownership of the lands granted by the Charter, and the rights necessarily incidental thereto, must now be considered as valid. It is true that questions have from time to time been raised in Canada as to the extent of the territory claimed by this Company under their Charter, and in some respects as to other rights which the Charter confers; but while Her Majesty's Government have at all times declined to be any party to proceedings on the subject, the opportunity has always been afforded to the authorities of Canada to bring any questions for adjudication before Her Majesty in Councila course to which this Company have always been prepared to accede, and which appears to be the only legitimate mode of deciding their rights, if they are to be called in question. The Canadians have altogether abstained from availing themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them, but it is now obviously the object of the Canadian Legislature to secure to tribunals of their own nomination the decision of those rights. I may here state that, so far as the mere political powers granted by the Charter are concerned, such as the rights of government, taxation, or exclusive administration of justice, the Company have long since expressed their willingness that these powers should be vested in officers deriving their authority directly from the Crown; but before any such powers can with justice be transferred to the Colonial Government, I submit that the extent of the territorial rights of the Company should either be fully recognised, or that if the Canadian Government are desirous of procuring those rights for the benefit of Canada in general, they should, in the first instance, arrange with the Hudson's Bay Company the terms upon which they should be so acquired. But should the Canadian Legislature still desire that any judicial investigation into the territorial rights of the Company should take place, such inquiry should be |