taken up by an English ship near Cape Henrietta Maria. Bridger and Gillam they carry'd with them to Canada, where Raddison and Gooselier ran some of their cargo ashoar, intending to defraud their employers. After which they made their escape, and got into France. The Company, having notice of it, writ to him, and he to the Company, promising, if they would forgive the injury he had done them, and employ him again at such a sallary, he would undertake to deliver the French, whom he had left there till he came again, to them, and seize all the furrs they had traded for, which would make them satisfaction for the wrongs he had done them. Accordingly they forgave him and employ'd him again, and he took Port Nelson from his countrymen. But before his arrival Cap. John Abraham had been there with supplies of stores; and finding Mr. Bridger was gone, he stay'd himself and was continu'd Governor by the Company, in 1684.

In the preceding year, Mr. Nixon, Governour of Rupert's River, was recall'd, and Henry Sergeant, Esq., made Governour. By whose instructions we find the chief factory was remov'd from Rupert's to Moose-sebee, or Chickewan River which has ever since been call'd Albany River; where a fort was built, a factory settled, and the Governour made it the place of his residence. 'Tis the bottom of the Bay, below Rupert's River.

He was order'd to come every spring, as soon as the trade was over, to Charlton Island and bring what goods he had with him, to wait for the arrival of the Company's ships. From thence he was to visit the other factories, and see that their merchandize was sent in due time to Charlton Island, to attend the ship's arrival.

The Governour of Canada, having given the Hudson's Bay Company to understand the French were very much offended at their discoveries* in these parts, Mr. Sergeant, was ordered to be careful that he was not surpriz'd by them.

There is an island in the bottom of the Bay called Hayes Island, where a factory had been settled. This isle and Rupert's River were near the French, Albany being more to the southward; and of these factories the company were most apprehensive that their enemies would endeavour to dispossess them.

The Company intended to plant a colony at Charlton Island, and order'd Mr. Sergeant to build a fort there, and always keep some men upon it. Warehouses were also built to receive the furs that were brought thither from the factories, and conveniences were made for the reception of such as were obliged to winter there.

Orders were also given to dismiss Cap. Gillam from their service for his son's offences; and Cap. Sandford had the same usage, on account of his relation to the Gillams. Cap. William Bond, who had been under Mr. Baily, was sent for home; and other regulations made in the management of affairs, but all could not hinder the ruin of them all by

the enemy.

The Company, by their Governours and agents, made such compacts with the captains or kings of the rivers and territories where they had settlements, for the freedom of trade there, exclusive of all others, that the Indians could not pretend they had encroach'd upon them. These compacts were render'd as firm as the Indians could make them, by such ceremonies as were most sacred and obligatory among them.

Now were the Company in possession of five settlements, viz., Albany River, Hayes Island, Rupert River, Port Nelson, and New Severn. Their trade at each of these was considerable. From Albany River they had generally 3,500 beavers a year; and by Mr. Sergeant's great's care and fidelity, their commerce increas'd so much that the French began to be afraid all the Upland Indians might be drawn down to the Bay. They knew that they could do anything with King James II., who then reigned in England, and that no affront would make that prince break with Lewis the XIV. Wherefore they resolved to drive the English out of all their places in the bottom of the Bay. They first took Hayes Island, and then the fort on Rupert's River. The French Company at Canada procured a detachment of soldiers to be sent under the Chevalier de Troyes, who came overland from Quebec, and in a time of profound peace committed these acts of hostility.

The 8th of July, 1686, the Chevalier de Troyes came before the fort at Albany River, where the Governour, Mr. Sergeant, then resided. Two Indians had inform'd him

*Encroachments the French considered them.

of their having surpriz'd the forts at Hayes Island and Rupert River, and had brought with them the great guns from those places.

Two hours after the English heard them discharge their guns, and saw some of them at a distance. Upon which part of the Company's servants declar'd they would not venture their lives unless they might be assur'd of pay, and sent John Parsons and John Garret, two of their number, in all their names, to the Governour, to tell him their resolutions. Mr. Sergeant, by promises and giving them cloaths and other necessaries, prevail'd with them to return to their charge. But in a day or two they mutiny'd again, and Elias Turner, the gunner, possess'd the people with an apprehension that it was impossible to hold out the place, declaring that for his part he would throw himself on the French. Accordingly he went to the Governour, and desir'd leave so to do; but being threat'ned to be shot to death in case he attempted it, he was at last perswaded to return to his post.

The English shot at the French as long as they appear'd in the brushes, and forc'd them to retire under the banks, where the guns from the fort could not hit them. The French had found a way to bring their great guns through the woods, and had planted them on their battery before the English saw them.

The enemy's shot had made a breach in the flankers, and damaged the houses in the fort; upon which, and the repeated desires of the men, the Governour consented to a parley; Mr. Bridger assuring him the enemy were mining them, and they should certainly be blown up. Cap. Outlaw also agreed to capitulate, and the white flag was hung out; after which a treaty was concluded.

At this time Thomas Phips, Esq., was Governor of Port Nelson, which was not then taken by the French; and the Company expected Fort Albany would have been restor❜d to them in King James' time; but all their solicitations were in vain, and all the settlements they had, Port Nelson excepted, were abandoned to the French.

The war breaking out, as has been said, between the two nations, the Hudson's Bay Company solicited for soldiers to be sent thither to recover their settlements; and in the year 1693 they retook all the forts and factories which the French had taken from them in time of peace.

In which expedition they met with no more difficulties than the Chevalier de Troyes had met with. Cap. Grinnington was the person employ'd for this service; and John Knight, Esq., was appointed Governour of Fort Albany; but his government was of no long continuance, for in a little time the French sent such a power against the English, that they again drove them from all their settlements in the bottom of the Bay.

The French Company made Monsieur de la Fores Governour of Fort Albany, and garrison'd all forts they had taken, which made it necessary for the government to send a stronger power than the Company could raise to recover them.

The King of England, to protect their trade, assign'd two men of war for their service, in the year 1696, as the Bonaventure, Cap. Allen, Commander, and the Seaford. Cap. Allen, coming into the River Hayes, sent to summon all the forts to surrender, and the French Governour finding he could not defend them against the English, capitulated, and on the 2nd of August, 1696, surrender'd Albany Fort.

Cap. Allen took the Governour and some of his men aboard his own ship; some he put aboard the Seaford, and the rest aboard a merchantman call'd the Dering. In his return he fought the Mary Rose, frigat, then a French privateer of 50 guns, and was kill'd in the engagement, which gave the Frenchman an opportunity to bear away.

As to the other two forts, they followed the fate of Albany, and Mr. Knight was restored to his government; at which time John Geyer, Esq., was Governor of Port Nelson. Mr. Knight had serv'd Mr.Sergeant while he was Governour of Fort Albany, and was well acquainted with the trade.

In the year 1697, the Hampshire, frigat, and Owner's Love, fire-ship, two of the King's ships, were lost in this Bay, and all the men drown'd. Indeed the ice renders it so dangerous that the commerce seems to be not worth the risk that is run for it. Whether those two ships ran against those frozen mountains that float in that sea, or founder'd, is not known; but 'tis certain they were lost, and all the men perish'd.

In the present war they lost Port Nelson to the French, and have either given up or deserted all their settlements, except Fort Albany, where Mr. Knight manag'd their

affairs till the year 1706, when he was succeeded by John Fullerton, Esq., the present Governour at Albany River.

OTHER ACCOUNTS.

La compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson a actuellement quatre factoreries, Churchill, le Fort York, Albany, et celle de la rivière de Moose. Le Fort York est réputé le plus important : il est situé sur le bras meridional de la rivière de Hayes, cinque lieues au-dessus de l'endroit où elle se jette dans la mer, à 57° 20' lat., et à 93° 68' de longitude.*Histoire et Commerce des Colonies Anglaises dans l'Amerique Septentrionale: London, 1775.

"The whole of the settlements in New Britain are as follows:-Abbitibbi, Frederick, East Main and Brunswick Houses, Moose Fort, Henley, Gloucester and Osnaburg Houses, and a House of Winnipeg Lake, Severn or New Severn, York Fort or Nelson, Churchill Fort or Prince of Wales' Fort, South Branch, Hudson's, Manchester and Buckingham Houses: the last is the westernmost settlement, and lately erected (1798.)

"Hudson's House, one of the Company's factories on the S. W. side of Saskatchewan River, 100 miles east of Manchester House, and 167 S.E. of Buckingham House, or lat. 55° 32', W. long. 106° 27′ 20′′.+"—American Gazetteer. By Jebediah Morse, D.D., London, 1798.

Winterbotham's Historical, Geographical, and Philosophical View of the United States, and of the European Settlements in America and the West Indies, 1795, gives the following as the forts occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company. They were all on the shores of the Bay:

"The country lying round Hudson's Bay, or the country of the Esquimaux; comprehended Labrador, New Britain, and South Wales, has obtained the general name of New Britain, and is attached to the government of Lower Canada. A superintendent of trade, appointed by the Governor-General of the four Provinces, and responsible to him, resides at Labrador.

"Before the Canadian merchants pursued the fur trade with such diligence as they now do through the lakes, and had penetrated into the interior parts of Hudson's Bay, a great number of Indians used to come annually down to the Company's settlements to barter their skins; and although the Company have now in a great measure lost the benefit of this lucrative traffic, it may not be amiss to mention the manner in which the Indians prosecute their voyages to the factories.

"The merchants from Canada have been heard to acknowledge that were the Hudson's Bay Company to prosecute their inland trade in a spirited manner, they must soon be obliged to give up all thoughts of penetrating into the country; as from the vicinity of the Company's factories to the inland posts, they can afford to undersell them in every branch.

"To explain this emulation between the Company and the Canadian traders, it will be necessary to review the state of the Company in the year 1773. About that time, the Canadian traders from Montreal, actuated by a laudable spirit of industry and adventure,

*The Hudson's Bay Company has at present four factories: Churchill, Fort York, Albany, and that of Moose River. Fort York is reputed the most important: it is situated on the south branch of the Hayes River, five leagues above the point where it runs into the sea, at 57 deg. 20 min. lat., and 93 deg. 58 min. long. +This would be about the forks of the Saskatchewan. In another place this fort is said to be 600 miles west of Fort Churchill. The same statement is made in the folio edition of 1794,

and experiencing the peculiar advantages that resulted from their exertions, had become so numerous and indefatigable at the head of the rivers which led to the Company's settlements, that the trade of the latter was in a great measure cut off from its usual channels. The Indians being supplied with everything they could wish for at their own doors, had no longer occasion, as they had hitherto done, to build canoes, and paddle several hundred miles, for the sake of cultivating a commerce with the Company, in which peregrination they were frequently exposed to much danger from hunger; so much so, that at one time seven canoes of Upland Indians perished on their return to their own country."

Edmund Burke, in his Account of the European Settlements in America, says: "Certain British geographers agree with the French, whose maps they have for a long time servilely and shamefully copied."

Again: "With regard to our claims in the Ohio and Mississippi, the rashness of some writers in a matter which is a public concern, seems to me very blamable, some of them timidly or ignorantly drawing our territories into a very inconvenient narrowness, whilst others have madly claimed all North America from sea to sea; some would give us very narrow bounds, whilst others would listen to no bounds at all." (1757.)

And again: "Posterity will, perhaps, think it unaccountable that, in a matter of such importance, we could have been so thoughtless as to have on our back such a nation as France, without determining, even sufficiently clear to settle our own demands, what part of the country was our own right, or what we determined to leave to the discretion of our neighbours; or that, wholly intent upon settling the sea coast, we have never cast an eye into the country, to discover the necessity of making a barrier against them, with a proper force, which formerly did not need to have been a very great one, nor to be maintained at any great expense.

Salmon's Modern History, licensed by the King, Dec. 13, 1743, says: "As to Canada, or New France, the French would scarce admit it had any bounds to the north on this side the pole, till they were limited on that side by an article in the treaty of Utrecht, which assigns New Britain and Hudson's Bay, on the North of Canada, to Great Britain. And Commissioners on both sides afterwards ascertained the limits,* by an imaginary line running from a cape or promotory of New Britain in the Atlantic ocean, 58° 30′ north latitude, and running from thence south-west, to the Lake of Miscosink, or Mistasin, and from thence further south-west indefinitely to the latitude of 49°, all the lands to the north of the said line being assigned to Great Britain, and all to the south of the said line, as far as the St. Lawrence, to the French.

"The eastern boundary of New France or Canada, the French admit, are the British plantations of Nova Scotia, New England, &c. ; the southern boundary, the line which divides New France from Louisiana; and to the westward, the French extend the country of New France as far as the Pacific Ocean; and the Asiatic continent of Asia shall be found hereafter to be contiguous to North America.

"*** However, as they [the French] have actually been possessed of some countries in Canada, between the River St. Lawrence and New Britain or Hudson's Bay, for about one hundred years, and those countries seem to be confirmed to them, as far as the English had a right to confirm them, I shall readily allow their title to that part of Canada. But as to the rest of Canada and Louisiana, they cannot have a right to any part of them, notwithstanding the posts they have erected on those rivers. The eastern side of the Mississippi is the property of those Indians, subject to Great Britain, and the western side of it belongs to the Indians, who are under the dominion of the Spaniards; and we find the Spaniards asserting their title to it by demolishing the forts of Mons. de Salle and Mons. d'Iberville, erected on the west side of the river, and have as much right to demolish the forts the French have erected on the west side of it."

And the error about the boundary line of Canada having been determined is repeated: "And it was agreed [at Utrecht] that commissaires on the part of Great Britain and France should determine within a year the limits to be fixed between the said Bay of Hudson and the places appertaining to the French, which limits the subjects of

This is certainly a mistake, though it seems to have been generally believed. If the boundary had been agreed upon, the Hudson's Bay Company would not be ignorant of the fact; nor would the French Governor of Canada, some years later have claimed the Hudson's Bay for the northern boundary of his province.

Great Britain and France were not to pass over to each other by sea or land. And commissaires did afterwards settle the limits by an imaginary line, drawn from a promontory situate on the Atlantic Ocean, in 58° 30', and running from thence south-west to the Lake of Misconsink, or Mistassin, and from thence south-west, indefinitely, to the latitude of 49°; all the countries to the north being assigned to Great Britain, and all on the south, between that line and the River of St. Lawrence or Canada, to France."

Another writer, who has paid particular attention to North America, believed the fable of a Spanish vessel having crossed the continent from the Pacific Ocean to Hudson's Bay: "It is alleged that the Spaniards have recently found an entrance in the latitude of 47° 55' north, which in twenty-seven days brought them to the vicinity of Hudson's Bay; this latitude exactly corresponds to the ancient relation of John de Fuca, the Greek pilot, in 1592."-Dalrymple's Plan for Promoting the Fur Trade, 1789.

INSTRUCTIONS OF CAPT. GEO. VANCOUVER, 1791.

[Captain Vancouver undertook a voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, in 1791, principally with a view to ascertain the existence of any navigable communication between the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, having command of the Discovery sloop of war, and the armed tender Chatham. His instructions were prepared]

"By the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

"The King having judged it expedient that an expedition should be immediately undertaken for acquiring a more complete knowledge, than has yet been obtained, of the north-west coast of America; and, the sloop you command, together with the Chatham armed tender (the Lieutenant commanding which has been directed to follow your orders) having been equipped for that service, you are, in pursuance of his Majesty's pleasure, signified to us by Lord Grenville, one of his principal Secretaries of State, hereby required and directed to proceed, without loss of time, with the said sloop and tender, to the Sandwich Islands, in the North Pacific Ocean, where you are to remain, during the next winter; employing yourself very diligently in the examination and survey of the said islands and, as soon as the weather shall be favourable (which may be expected to be in February, or at latest in March, 1792), you are to repair to the north-west coast of America, for the purpose of acquiring a more complete knowledge of it, as above mentioned.

"It having been agreed, by the late convention between his Majesty and the Catholic King (a printed copy of which you will receive herewith), that the buildings and tracts of land situated on the north-west coast above mentioned, or on islands adjacent thereto, of which the subjects of his Britannic Majesty were dispossessed about the month of April, 1789, by a Spanish officer, shall be restored to the said British subjects, the Court of Spain has agreed to send orders for that purpose to its officers in that part of the world; but as the particular specification of the parts to be restored may still require some further time, it is intended that the King's orders, for this purpose, shall be sent out to the Sandwich Islands, by a vessel to be employed to carry thither a further store of provisions for the sloop and armed tender above mentioned, which it is meant shall sail from this country in time to reach those islands in the course of next winter.

"If, therefore, in consequence of the arrangement to be made with the Court of Spain, it should hereafter be determined that you should proceed, in the first instance, to Nootka, or elsewhere, in order to receive, from the Spanish officers, such lands or buildings as are to be restored to the British subjects, orders to that effect will be sent out by the vessel above mentioned. But if no such orders should be received by you previous to the end of January, 1792, you are not to wait for them at the Sandwich Islands, but