“That your Petr: dares not return to his Native country for the reasons aforesaid: & seeing all his subsistance depends on the sd. compy & is shortly to Determine with the life of your Petr and his four smalle children must consequently fall to be maintained by the Alms of the Parish altho’ the company hath had many thousand pounds effects by his procurement & some that he conceives he had himselfe a good tytle to—— “Your Petr therefore most humbly prays that this House will comiserate the condition of yr. Petr said children, and whereas he hath now the said six actions & £100 only for his life, that you will Vouchsafe to direct a provisoe in the Bill depending to grant the sd. annuity to be paid quarterly & the dividends of the sd. Actions as often as any shall become due to your Petr: his Heirs for Ever during the joint stock of the said compy. “And yr. Petr shall forever pray “PETER ESPRIT RADISSON.” The occasion of this petition by Radisson was when the Stuarts had lost the throne and the Company was petitioning for a confirmation of its royal charter by an act of Parliament. “The many thousand pounds which he conceived himself to have a title to,” refers to 1684, when the French Court compelled him to turn over all the £20,000 in his fort at Nelson to the English. That beaver had been procured in the trade of goods for which Radisson and Groseillers and young Chouart and La Fôrest and De la Chesnay and Dame Sorrell had advanced the money. As a matter of fact, the Company never gave Radisson any stock. They simply granted him the right to dividends on a small amount of stock—a wrong which he was powerless to right as he dared not return to France. It was during Iberville’s raids that the Company stopped paying Radisson dividends or salary, when he filed a suit against them in Chancery and won it. It is quite true the Company was unable to pay him at this time, but then they had their own niggardly policy to thank for having driven him across to France in the first place. * * * * * When the Company presented a bill of damages against France for the raids, Radisson’s evidence was necessary to prove that the French King gave up all claims to the bay when he ordered Radisson back to England, so the old man was no longer kept cooling his heels in the outer halls of the Company’s Council Room. The bill of damages was made up as follows: 1682—Port Nelson taken with Gov. Bridgar & Zechariah Gillam & 5 men perished. £25,000 1684—damage to trade at Nelson. 10,000 1685—_Perpetuana_ taken with 14 seamen. 5,000 loss of life and wages. 1,255 1686—forts captured at the bottom of the bay 50,000 loss in trade. 10,000 1688—loss of _Churchill_ Captain Bond _Young—Stimson_ 15,000 cargo to Canada. 70,000 1692—forts lost. 20,000 _______ £206,255