[45] "This country," it was remarked in 1710, "is composed of persons of various character and different inclinations. One and the other ought to be managed, and can contribute to render it flourishing." [46] I find the following in the minute books, under date of 24th March, 1714. "It was resolved that the Committee when they meet Friday come Senuit, do agree to wait on the Lord Bishop of London, in order to return him the thanks of this Company for the care that has been taken of them by the Treaty of Ryswick." CHAPTER XVII. 1712-1720. Queen Anne Espouses the Cause of the Company -- Prior's View of its Wants -- Treaty of Utrecht -- Joy of the Adventurers -- Petition for Act of Cession -- Not Pressed by the British Government -- Governor Knight Authorized to take Possession of Port Nelson -- "Smug Ancient Gentlemen" -- Commissioners to Ascertain Rights -- Their Meeting in Paris -- Matters move slowly -- Bladen and Pulteney return to England. At last the Company had triumphed. Its rights had been admitted; the Queen and her ministers were convinced of the justice of its claims.[47] Peace, long and anxiously awaited, began to dawn over the troubled horizon. Lewis and his courtiers had long sickened of the war: and at the Flemish town of Utrecht negotiations were on foot for a cessation of hostilities and the adjustment of differences between the crowns of England and France. The view which Matthew Prior, the English plenipotentiary, took of the Company's rights was not one, however, inspired by that body. He wanted the trade of the country, rather than the sovereignty. "I take leave to add to your lordship," he observes at the end of a communication addressed to the Secretary of State, "that these limitations are not otherwise advantageous or prejudicial to Great Britain than as we are both better or worse with the native Indians; and that the whole is a matter rather of industry than of dominion." These negotiations finally resulted in a treaty signed on the 31st of March (O.S.), 1713, by which the whole of Hudson's Bay was ceded to Great Britain without any distinct definition of boundaries, for the determining of which commissioners were to be appointed. [Sidenote: Effect of the Treaty on the Company.]