"11. A settler, having purchased lands from Lord Selkirk, or even from the Hudson's Bay Company, without any conditions attached to them, or without having signed any bond, deed, or instrument whatever, whereby he might have willed away his right to trade furs, can he be prevented from trading furs in the settlement with settlers, or even out of the settlement? "12. Are the limits of the settlement defined by the municipal law, Selkirk grant, or Indian sale? "13. If a person can not trade furs, either in or out of the settlement, can he purchase them for his own and family use, and in what quantity? "14. Having never seen any official statements, nor known, but by report, that the Hudson's Bay Company has peculiar privileges over British subjects, natives, and half-breeds, resident in the settlement, we would wish to know what those privileges are, and the penalties attached to the infringement of the same. "We remain your humble servants, "JAMES SINCLAIR, ALEXIS GAULAT, BAPTIST LA ROQUE, LOUIS LETENDE DE BATOCHE, THOMAS LOGAN, WILLIAM MCMILLAN, JOHN DEASE, ANTOINE MORRAN, BAT. WILKIE, JOHN ANDERSON, JOHN VINCENT, THOMAS MCDERMOT, WILLIAM BIRD, ADALL TROTTIER, PETER GARIOCH, CHARLES HOLE, HENRY COOK, JOSEPH MONKMAN, JOHN SPENCE, BAPTIST FARMAN. "ALEXANDER CHRISTIE, Esq., "Governor of Red River Settlement." Governor Christie's reply to these inquiries was so mild and conciliatory that it will not add materially to our knowledge of the company to give it. But the eight rules adopted by the company in council let us into the secret soul of the _monstrosity_, and are here given, that Americans may be informed as to its secret workings, and also to show what little regard an Englishman has for any but an aristocratic or moneyed concern. * * * * * "_Extracts from minutes of a meeting of the Governor and Council of Rupert's Land, held at the Red River settlement, June 10, 1845._ "_Resolved_, 1st, That, once in every year, any British subject, if an actual resident, and not a fur trafficker, may import, whether from London or from St. Peter's, stores free of any duty now about to be imposed, on declaring truly that he has imported them at his own risk.