ted schemes had, in due
time, all the success he anticipated.

Having thus completely gained the confidence of the North-West
partners, his policy began gradually to unfold itself. One
obstreperous North-Wester was sent to the Columbia; another to the
Montreal department, where "their able services could not be dispensed
with;" and thus in the course of a few years he got rid of all those
refractory spirits who dared to tell him their minds.

The North-West nonconformists being in this manner disposed of, Sir
George deemed it no longer necessary to wear the mask. His old friends
of the Hudson's Bay, or "sky-blue" party, were gradually received into
favour; his power daily gained the ascendant, and at this moment Sir
George Simpson's rule is more absolute than that of any governor under
the British crown, as his influence with the Committee enables him to
carry into effect any measure he may recommend. That one possessed
of an authority so unbounded should often abuse his power is not to
be wondered at; and that the abuse of power thus tolerated should
degenerate into tyranny is but the natural consequence of human
weakness and depravity. The question is--Is it consistent with
prudence to allow an _individual_ to assume and retain such power?
Most of the Company's officers enter the service while yet very young;
none are so young, however, as not to be aware of the privileges to
which they are entitled as British subjects, and that they have a
right to enjoy those privileges while they tread on British soil.
The oft repeated acts of tyranny of which the autocrat of "all Prince
Rupert's Land and its dependencies" has lately been guilty, have
accordingly created a feeling of discontent which, if it could be
freely expressed, would be heard from the shores of the Pacific to
Labrador.

Unfortunately, the Company's servants are so situated, that they dare
not express their sentiments freely. The clerk knows that if he is
heard to utter a word of disapprobation, it is carried to the ears of
his sovereign lord, and his prospects of advancement are marred for
ever; he therefore submits to his grievances in silence. The chief
trader has probably a large family to support, has been thirty or
forty years in the service, and is daily looking forward to the other
step: he too is silent. The chief factor has a situation of importance
in which his vanity is gratified and his comfort secured; to
express his opinion freely might risk