anies has long since been
forgotten; but the subject being again obtruded on the public notice,
evidently in the spirit of prejudice, there can be nothing improper, I
presume, in representing matters in their true and proper light. Many
of the individuals thus calumniated are still alive and settled in the
civilized world, where they are esteemed for qualities diametrically
opposite to those ascribed to them by their slanderer.

It is well known that the chief advantages the Hudson's Bay Company
now possess, they owe to the adventurous North-West traders; by these
traders the whole interior of the savage wilds was first explored; by
them the water communications were first discovered and opened up
to commercial enterprise; by them the first trading posts were
established in the interior; by them the natives were first reconciled
to the whites; and by them the trade was first reduced to the regular
system which the Hudson's Bay Company still follows. When all this
had been done by the North-West Company, and they had begun to
reap the reward of their toils, and hardships, and dangers, and
expenditure--then did the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, led on by
a British peer, step forward and claim, as British subjects, an equal
right to share the trade.

Their _noble_ leader appeared first in Montreal in the guise of a
traveller, where he was received by the North-Westers with open arms,
was kindly and hospitably entertained by them, his minutest inquiries
regarding their system of trade were candidly and freely answered;
and the information thus obtained in the character of a traveller,
a guest, and a friend, he forthwith proceeded to use to effect
their ruin. Had, however, the North-West Company continued true to
themselves, all his arts and attempts would have failed. Had not
dissension arisen in the ranks, it is clear that _they_--not
the Hudson's Bay Company--would have granted the capitulation.
Unfortunately for themselves, however, the partners in the interior,
seeing the contest continue so long, and the expenses swallow up all
the profits, despaired of the success that was almost within their
grasp, and commencing a correspondence among themselves, finally
determined on opening a negotiation with their rivals. Two of their
number were accordingly sent home, invested with full powers to
act for the general interest. Those gentlemen arrived just as the
Directors of the North-West Company in London were about to con