It seemed to me that this latter business was of vital and pressing importance. The Hudson's Bay factors, and traders were, in various grades and degrees, partners in the annual trade or "outfit," under the provisions of the "deed poll." This "deed poll" was the charter under which the hardy officials worked and saved. Their charter had been altered or varied over the long period since the date of the Royal concession, in the twenty-second year of the reign of Charles the Second. The deed poll in existence in 1863 provided that the profits of the fur trade (less interest on capital employed in the trade, which belonged to the stockholders who provided it) were to be divided into 100 parts, of which 60 parts belonged to the stockholders, and 40 to the "wintering partners." The "wintering partners" were the "chief factors" and the "chief traders." These 40 parts were again subdivided into 85 shares; and each "chief factor" was entitled to two of such shares, and each "chief trader" to one share. The clerks were paid by salary, and only a person who had served as a clerk could be promoted to a "chief tradership," and only a "chief trader" to a "chief factorship." Thus all had a direct or remote partnership interest. On retirement, an officer held his full interest for one year and half his interest for the succeeding six years. I had much apprehension that if the unexpected sale and transfer of the share property, under terms and conditions in every sense unique, were not frankly and explicitly explained, and under authority, alarm and misconception would arise; while the news of the transfer would find its way to distant regions in a distorted fashion, and through unfriendly sources, long before the explanation and answer could arrive. My fear, owing to bad management in London, was somewhat realized, and I found that I had not rushed across the Atlantic, to perform every service in my power to the undertaking, in June, 1863, one moment too soon. Then, having studied the "deed poll," I felt that, unless we made the factors and traders partners in the whole enterprise--fur trade, banking, telegraphs, lands, navigation of rivers--on generous terms, we could not expect to elicit either their energies or their adhesion to a new order of things.