barter, South Carolina was settled on the Ashley River, Virginia enacted
that "all servants not being Christians, imported into this country by
shipping shall be slaves," and her Governor, Sir William Berkeley, was
inspired to exclaim piously, "I hope we shall have neither free schools
nor printing these hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience
and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them. God
keep us from both!" It was not until two years later that Addison was
born, and that Marquette and Joliet sailed down the Mississippi, even as
we now are essaying the Athabasca.

Unique in commercial annals is the Royal Charter which gave, with power
of life and death, to the Company of Gentlemen Adventurers, less than
twenty in number, "forever hereafter" possession and jurisdiction over a
country as large as Europe. Liberty here for utter despotism, the widest
of excesses. We marvel that from the first Prince Rupert of the Rhine to
the latest Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, the Governors of the
Ancient Company have, with Duncan-like demeanour, borne themselves so
meek in their great office.

It has been fashionable to paint the H.B. Co. as an agrarian oligarchy.
Organized for the purpose of "making fur" before the time of the Habeas
Corpus, two decades ahead of the Bank of England, sixty-two years before
Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac," and a
century in advance of Watt's steam-engine, it is true that The Company,
throughout the years, devoted itself to peltries and not to platting
town sites. This was its business. From the beginning it has
consistently kept faith with the Indians; the word of The Company has,
for reward or for punishment, ever been worth its full face value. It
was not an H.B. Scot who exclaimed feelingly, "Honesty _is_ the best
policy, I've tried baith."

The feeling of devotion to The Company is as strong today as it ever
was. When the present Commissioner took office he penetrated the North
on a tour of inspection. At Athabasca Landing, since it was not known
just when the Head would arrive, the local official charged all his
clerks and minions to be ready at the sound of a whistle to salute and
fall into line for inspection. The call to arms came on Sunday morning
during divine service. Every attache of The Company with one exception
obeyed the signal. Young Tom Helly, the paid organist, stuck to his
post; and next day he was called on the