In April, 1669, however, the cold was almost over, and they were surprised to see the bursting forth of the spring. Satisfied with their journey, they left the Bay in this year and sailed southward to Boston, from which port they crossed the ocean to London, and gave an account of their successful voyage. The fame of the pioneer explorer is ever an enviable one. There can be but one Columbus, and so for all time this voyage of Zachariah Gillam, because it was the expedition which resulted in the founding of the first fort, and in the beginning of the great movement which has lasted for more than two centuries, will be memorable. It was not an event which made much stir in London at the time, but it was none the less the first of a long series of most important and far-reaching activities. FOOTNOTES: [1] See map opposite. [2] Mr. Miller Christie, of London, and others are of opinion that Radisson visited Hudson Bay on this fourth voyage. [3] A copy of the instructions given the captains may be found in State Papers, London, Charles II., 251, No. 180. CHAPTER II. HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY FOUNDED. Royal charters--Good Queen Bess--"So miserable a wilderness"--Courtly stockholders--Correct spelling--"The nonsense of the Charters"--Mighty rivers--Lords of the territory--To execute justice--War on infidels--Power to seize--"Skin for skin"--Friends of the red man. The success of the first voyage made by the London merchants to Hudson Bay was so marked that the way was open for establishing the Company and carrying on a promising trade. The merchants who had given their names or credit for Gillam's expedition lost no time in applying, with their patron, Prince Rupert, at their head, to King Charles II. for a Charter to enable them more safely to carry out their plans. Their application was, after some delay, granted on May 2nd, 1670. The modern method of obtaining privileges such as they sought would have been by an application to Parliament; but the seventeenth century was the era of Royal Charters. Much was said in England eighty years after the giving of this Charter, and again in Canada forty years ago, against the illegality and unwisdom of such Royal Charters as the one granted to the Hudson's Bay Company. These criticisms, while perhaps just, scarcely cover the ground in question.